Ugly

This blog background is ugly. (I don't like blue or "the blues") Not crazy about that picture as the header either, but I decided to leave it all alone because its perfect for dumb 'ol ugly January.
The End.
Christmas pictures to come.....I hope. I jumped on the bandwagon and got obsessed with my physical fitness for the new year. I'm sure by Feb. I will be back to blogging while eating Doritos. :)

Darn it.

Well........I did it. I took my first load of "baby stuff" to the DI.......*silence*

(insert crickets chirping here)

I didn't like it. Not one bit. As I pulled away and I saw her baby swing(which she hated) and the bumbo chair(which she hated) and a bunch of other things(of no consequence whatsoever) I felt like bawling. After Allie, I saved EVERYTHING. I knew more babies were coming-hopefully. After Easton, I saved a lot because the third baby was an..."option"- hopefully. So I have never really had to do the walk and dump of my baby memories at the local good will. BUMMER. I didn't like it. Not one bit. So on the way home (after getting a Dr. Pepper for me and a Cherry Sprite for Allie, because caffeine will cure almost any heartache) I began to think that I just took my first step to being completely done with having babies. Darn it. I love babies. I love my nine-month old even more. I love my kids! Darn it. So in my mind I began to count up the reasons why its good to be done having babies.


1. I don't really want to be that sick ever again in my life. The first few months with Olivia was pure hell. Seriously. I couldn't eat. I couldn't poop. I couldn't stop throwing up. Not attractive...not one bit.


2. I don't want to drive anything bigger. The Tahoe (while I love it more than any vehicle I've ever had) is HUGE for me! I'm 5'2.....and its a long way up there! The other night Paul said, "I want to get a new Suburban." I stared at him in horror and said, "Your joking. Paul, we are lucky that I haven't done bodily harm to some innocent shopper at Wal-Mart. I just honk and hope everyone moves out of the way because I sure as heck can't see them behind me." He said he would buy one with a back-up camera. I said, "No thanks." But then again, if he buys a suburban thats just more room for another baby......hmmmmm.


3.I really believe my body can't do it again. Back to the height issue. 5'2" (5'7 with the right shoes) is not very much room to cram another human being into. I've had every ancillary organ taken out after having my kids, I blew out my belly-button, my thyroid took a crap with Olivia....I just think my body is like Paul's commute car......its had ENOUGH!

(The fact that I just compared my body to Paul's car should be enough to send me running, screaming and demanding that my tubes be tied instantly, but then I look over at my fat,deliriously happy baby eating fruit puffs in the high chair and I think.......MAYBE??) *sigh* Besides that....I still have my appendix. Who needs their appendix anyway? hmmm.


4. EXPENSIVE. Its not cheap to have babies and in my case its not cheap to feed them. (Remember that I compare breastfeeding to date rape. Not pleasant. At all.) So because the ta-tas are decorative only.....I buy formula. At about $100 a month. Add diapers and wipes and clothing and well....you get the idea. Pricey.


5.I would have another girl and lets face it: That's just a lot of hair. A lot of hair to do. A lot of hair EVERYWHERE. I do love their clothes though. hmmm.

I'm still sad. She did hate that swing though. She hated the bumbo. Flipped right out of it everytime I put her in it. It was a hazard. I HAD to get rid of it. Right????
Darn it.

*chirp-chirp*

I took down my Christmas....because we are going to Island Park snowmobiling. I'm excited for that, but my house looks like it needs Prozac. Its sad too. Stark. Barren. Welcome to January people.....the one month of the year when I think I shoud start an anti-depressant, but luckily February comes and I'm over it. I like getting flowers. :)

Speaking of getting.....Christmas was fabulous! There was much "getting" and "giving" Spoils all around....its almost ridiculous. I will post pictures later. I will tell you this: Paul is now going to be doing a lot of skiing at Powder Mountain, thanks to me. :) We are putting Easton in snowboarding lessons and he is so excited. I asked Allie if she would come skiing with me(In our family, the boys snowboard and the girls ski I guess?)and she said, "Um.....never." Okaaaay. I guess I should help her conquer her fear of elevators before I try and throw her on a ski-lift.

My two favorite gifts haven't left my feet....

or my hands.....

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!! :)

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

This year we would like a Wii. Allie would also like a real-life microphone and the princess and the frog doll and CD. Easton would like a Nerf gun. Our baby sister would like the Elmo Live doll. That is all.

We will leave you cookies and milk and lots of carrots for your reindeer.

Merry Christmas Santa!
Love,

Allie & Easton

BELLYBUTTON

Ever heard of a umbilical hernia? Well......I have one. How nice for me! Apparently the wall of my stomach after housing three babies is like a well worn leather loafer and beginning to show the wear. A small tear formed behind my bellybutton and now about one inch of intestine is trying to escape. NICE! Not to mention painful. SOOOOO! I get to have surgery. On my bellybutton. :) I think this is my body's way of throwing in the towel on childbearing. Not that it hadn't tried to give me several clues before. After Allie were the blinding migraines that would leave me speechless(literally) and writhing on the floor in pain. After Easton my gallbladder decided to hit the road and now sweet Olivia turned my innie bellybutton into an.....outie. Things that make you go hmmmm..

Today because of my belly pain I layed on my bed with Olivia and watched her drift off to sleep. I stared at her for a long time marveling at the fact that I made her. (Well, not that I made her...but you get the idea.) I love being a mom. I love staying home with them. I like that as I layed there on the bed and watched her breathe, I could hear Easton singing along with Curious George in the family room. I love that Allie comes through the door after school like a mini-hurricane. Loud, excited and always demanding a snack.

Someone last week in Allie's class educated her on the story of "Blood Mary." In turn, we spent the next few nights explaining to Allie AND Easton that she isn't real and doesn't in fact live in our mirror. *sigh*

Tonight Easton prayed for me to get feeling better, for Allie to not eat all the snacks(?) and that Paul won't get fired. haha...

Olivia is for real crawling now. No more army crawl. Sometimes when she sees Paul she says, "DA!" We got excited thinking she was saying Dad....until she looked at the table and said, "DA!"

Paul's grandma had a 95th birthday party. Allie sang to her. Olivia stared at her and Easton ate his weight in food.

Good times....:)

Christmas Card Pictures...

Having two girls seven years apart doesn't allow me to dress them alike-EVER! So when I saw these dresses(that EVERYONE has) I had to buy them for the annual Christmas card picture. On the day that we took these pictures, it was probably 40 below zero and there MAY have been some tears but when I got home and downloaded them onto my computer??.......the tears were mine. Maybe it was the lighting in the picture? Or the fact that they all look so much alike? Or just maybe that they are my whole world. Whatever it was, they are some of my very favorite pictures of my favorite little people. Merry Christmas~from the White 5. :)

Why don't I live in New York?...

There are a MILLION reasons that I would like to live closer to the big apple, but the number one reason right now?....


ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? My all time favorite holiday movie is now on Broadway!?

For about five minutes today I was actually contemplating going there just to see this show. Actually looked at plane tickets! Daydreamed(there's the operative word) about taking my grandma(and anyone else with a strong connection to this film!) with me. Wouldn't it be GRAND? An evening with Irving Berlin's masterpiece? *sigh* I saw pictures of their costumes and the only word that comes to mind is....DIVINE! I love this show. Its one of my traditions to watch it (and force Paul to watch it with me). Why don't they make shows like this anymore? Tap-dancing is a lost art....one which should be incorporated into more shows or for that matter....life! Wouldn't all things be more bearable with people belting out show tunes and tap-dancing?? Yes-I think so. :)

Holly Jolly.....

So here we go. I hardly ever have time to devote to this blog of mine. So many people have quit using their blogs and it makes me sad! I'm determined to keep this up-at least a little bit! There have been times that I go back through older posts and I am so glad that I have documented little pieces of our lives! So with determination I forge ahead... :)

~VEGAS BABY!!~

Paul decided to "mom-nap" me and take me to Vegas for a few days. It was so nice to get away just the two of us and this time we made sure to book a few shows because honestly, what else do you do in Vegas if you aren't a gambler? (I refuse to throw money into a machine when I could go buy a pair of shoes or an entire outfit.) We went to Cirque du Soleil's Mystere, which was FANTABULOUS! Yes, that good! My mouth didn't close the entire show. I would tell anyone and everyone to go see it while in Vegas. Then we went to Phantom of the Opera. People thought I dragged Paul to this, but truth be known he actually likes going to the theatre. I guess I kind of lucked out that way because I LOVE going to shows. I'll tell you what though, Vegas has really decided to sell "SEX" everywhere they can. I don't seem to remember it being that bad but man has it gotten crazy! I can tell I am getting older because at one point as I watched a girl dance on a pole inside the lobby of our hotel(no joke) I kept saying things like, "What do you think her parents think?" "What made her decide to do that?" "Doesn't she know what these gross men are thinking of her?" "Thats it-I'm taking her home." Paul was like, "She probably makes more money than I do and she isn't a stray cat! You can't take her home." hahaha.....The best part was just being able to have hours and hours of discussion without "the little people" interupting or listening to us. It was fun. :)

This was at Mystere.
We stuffed our faces the entire trip! I think this was at the Cheesecake Factory. Me and Paul LOVE eating out. When people ask me what we like to do together I always say that we like to eat out. People laugh...but I'm serious! Its a hobby and we are GOOD at it. :)

Bellagio? Can't remember....

One of our many "self-portraits" We took a million like this.

The infamous sign...

Another one.....
We were watching the fountains and Paul snapped this. It ended up being my favorite picture of the trip.

At Phantom. You don't even want to know how many people we had to ask to get this one decent picture! People are camera-stupid I've decided. Its frustrating to me. Anyway....will you just please see this show if you are in Vegas? So fun and I'm STILL singing the songs.

We stayed at Planet Hollywood and each room is "themed" We got the Miami Vice room and Paul just thought it was hilarious that Don Johnson was above the tub. So weird.

Didn't work this time....hahaha!

The big "5"

Easton turned 5 on November 22. He got to have his first big boy birthday party-Transformer style! We went to Beehive Pizza and they all had a ball. I kept looking at him all day thinking, "Where has it gone?" Where did my tiny 6lb 10 oz,wrapped in a blue star blanket, baby go!? I have issues with how fast my kids are growing up. I fight it every step of the way and I'm pretty sure that one day I will need therapy to deal with it. Easton acts so old anymore! Today I asked him what he wants for Christmas and he said,"Um...my own golf clubs. And a digital camera." WHAT?! You aren't 50! Your five! What about a remote control car? Army guys? Another transformer? Nope. Golf clubs it is. I asked him if he wants a retirement fund or some Benefiber to go with those golf clubs. Geez! He will be moving out on me before I know it. :( Happy birthday Bubba!

The Transformer Pinanta! Easton carried this thing all around the house days before the party. He loved it. We let every kid take a whack at it and finally Paul had to break it. haha!
Opening of the presents. Such cute little boys.

He thought he was famous....

Each one of them got to make their own individual pizza and then watch it go through the oven.

Optimus Prime
The gang...

What else?.....

I put up my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving and didn't regret it for one minute! It takes me days and days to get it all up so I figure it all needs to be up for at LEAST 5 weeks to make it worth it. I even put up a second tree in my downstairs family room. We are kind of Christmas obsessed around here. My kids are getting old enough to be so much fun at this time of year. Lots and lots of traditions are getting started and they are really getting into the "magic" of the season and I enjoy creating a place for these memories! By the way, have you tried these?......

Oh they are to DIE for!! Any willpower that I have immediately dissolves around these babies! Go get some-they are only around at Christmas time. Here are some of my "holiday favorites" that just make Christmas what it is!! (Its long...)

Carpenters Christmas album. Sounds like my childhood!

Christmas Trimmings Salt City candle. Makes my house smell SO yummy. My second favorite is Pepperberry Wreath. I won't divulge how much I spend on yummy smelling candles at this time of year!

Chocolate covered orange sticks

My fire-place!

Judy Garland's version of "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" Makes me cry every single solitary time I hear it. (Its on my playlist...go down and listen to it.)

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas. Also reminds me of my grandparents and my childhood.

Homemade sugar cookies.

Rocking my baby to sleep by the Christmas tree. :)

Five stockings hanging in a row.

Reading Polar Express.

Singing along with John Denver and the Muppets at the top of our lungs in the car.

SNOW!!

Christmas jammies.

Talking about the birth of our Savior.

Hot Cocoa machine.

Finding that perfect gift to give!

My red&green Christmas lights. Makes my house look like a gingerbread house.

Singing Christmas songs in church.

Willard Bay lights.

Yearly Christmas ornaments for my kids.

Making Gingerbread houses.

Sending Christmas cards.

The arrival of our Christmas Elf.

Advent calendars.

Getting together with family.

There are hundreds more.....but I'm tired and ready for bed! Hope you all have a merry, merry Christmas!!