Thanksgiving and the Brown Family Christmas Party

Thanksgiving was a little different for our family this year.  For the first time in our 8 years together, we were going to Nevada to spend the holiday with my family.  The only time we could arrange for our family Christmas party was that weekend.  Well, Jay's boss didn't get the memo about that I guess, and Jay got scheduled to be on call that weekend.  He tried to trade, but it was not to be.  I didn't want to miss both Thanksgiving and our Christmas party, so I left my poor husband by himself for the weekend.  It was kind of a funny sad coincidence, but Jay, his dad, and his grandpa were all lonely bachelors for the weekend.  All of their women went home alone for the holidays.  So Jay got to spend lots of quality time with his dad, and his mom took good care of him on Thanksgiving. :)  I was REALLY sad to leave him, but felt like it was the right thing to do.  So the trip started out a little bumpy.  Tuesday morning, I went to get an oil change and found out that I needed two new tires.  Well, I only had two hours till we were supposed to be hitting the road, so I raced to a tire place to get them replaced.  They were pulling off the tire and one of the bolts was tightened too tight.  They said they would have to sheer it off to be able to get the tire off.  I was totally upset for a second, as I imagined myself spending my day at a mechanic shop instead of on the road to Vegas.  But he assured me that it would be safe to drive it without that bolt for the trip.

So I headed over to pick up Laura, Dalton and my kids.  I got there to discover that dalton had come down with the stomach flu and had thrown up multiple times already.  (This is a funny thing...  Almost every time we plan a big family trip with everyone there, Someone is sick.  Then the whole party gets sick while we're there.  We've had everything from stomach flu, to colds to a strange form of pink eye pass around the family at these times.)  We all go down there and mom finds room in the house for all of us somehow...  (We have a VERY large family :)  And I guess its because we are all so close together, it passes all around :).  By some miracle, my kids and I escaped this time.  We had a similar flu a month or so ago, so maybe we were immune.  But I was grateful, because it was awful even in my own house, I can't imagine dealing with it away from home.  Unfortunately, most everyone else had it at some point in the weekend.

Okay, back on track.  We loaded up all of the kids and stuff along with several zip lock bags for Dalton and headed on our way.  It was a long trip for poor Dalton, but we finally got there and had time to visit a little while before bed.
The next morning was Thanksgiving and it was such a busy day!  We spent the morning doing last minute shopping and preparing our feast. Then after eating it I took a nap for two hours so I would be ready for my midnight shopping excursion.  I don't know what I was doing all evening, but all I know is I didn't even have time to read all of the ads by the time midnight came.  so I piled them in the van and my sister and I headed to Osh Kosh.  I got some great deals and left there feeling so awesome!!  It was a good thing too, because I didn't have nearly as good an experience at Walmart.  For the last few years, my sisters and I have made it a tradition to meet at the walmart, gather up our price matches and then divide our group up to stand by the door busters we want most.  Then we slowly work our way through the crowd, gathering littler things like jammies, and clothes.  I don't usually even go to any other stores I love it!!  I love the crowds, I love the good will.  Most of the people I have been around are nice and we all work together to get the things we want.  I was excited to go to Vegas, because in the past their sales were less crowded.... NOT THE SAME THIS YEAR.  I don't know if we just chose the wrong walmart or if the crumbling vegas economy has made people a little crazy.  But after 5 o' clock rolled around there was NO good will and NO fun for me :(.  I was basically stranded with my cart and thankfully Candice, Jana and Rachel gathered up a few things for me.  Also, they had very little stock of the little jammies and other things that the utah walmarts seem to have a ton of .  (In fact, my walmart still had some when I went there a week later)  It was CRAZY.  Too many people, no room to move and then little still there of what I was looking for.  Not to mention a plethora of people rudely saying EXCUSE ME!  As if it was my choice to be stuck behind the huge mass of people in front of me.  I tried to get onto one of the main hallways so I could possibly move and people were just as certain I was not getting in front of them!!  So after 20 carts went by pressing to make sure I couldn't squeeze in, I gave up and tried to wind back through the clothes to get to the front.  The clothes racks were so close together that I had to move several just to get my cart through.  Finally, Candice and I got to the front.  I located Jana to get the rest of my stuff and tried to push that cart through and got yelled at again because unfortunately I had the nerve to crowd someone while I was trying to squeeze through a narrow opening between two clothes racks.  (I guess people don't expect to get crowded when they go to a store with a MILLION other people there.)  So I manually unloaded the cart and piled it next to my other cart and slid it along the floor till I got to the register.  Needless to say, I was HAPPY when I finally got the heck out of there!!  I did buy a bunch of stuff, and I was excited to get a good deal, but I just left feeling tired and stressed out.  I normally leave feeling euphoric!  I don't mind the crowds because they are all smiling and it seems like everyone is happy and nice.  And combined with the fun of getting a good deal and giddyness that comes with staying up all night, it is a favorite experience for me.  But if it was like this year every year, I would not do it!!!  No deal is worth dealing with all of that meanness!!  Next year I am going back to my favorite UT walmart!
We went to 2 Kmarts Kohl's and Costco and then we were done for the day.  Thank heaven they were better than Walmart.  Thanks to my brothers for watching the kids for all of that time!!  The rest of friday was kind of a blur and I can't remember all that we did.  Saturday, I planned to take Meg with me to lunch with Laura and her friend.  Laura caught the flu and cancelled, so Jess, Meg and I went to lunch at Olive Garden instead.  We had a lot of fun!  Then we did a little shopping and came home.  Then I went out AGAIN and for one more thing.  The afternoon and into the evening was spent making gourmet caramel apples.  It was fun!  But I think it did contribute to us starting the Christmas party late :).  It seemed like nothing was going right with that either, but eventually we got it all wrapped and were ready to join everyone in the living room.  It's our tradition to each open a pair of "Christmas Eve" jammies.  We also rotate assigned siblings to give gifts to as well as a "stocking stuffer" for each couple and sometimes the kids too.  The kids played with their new toys and ate candy for a while.  All except for Ethan; he slept through the whole thing.  Then, we changed into our jammies and went into the tv room to watch the present we gave mom.  That was the highlight of the evening.  We Rachel made a dvd with tons of photos from her life.  We all had lots of laughs and a few tears as we reminisced over the wonderful memories of the past and remembered those who have passed on.  It was the perfect end to a fun trip.  Sunday we just packed up as quickly as we could and headed home.

These first pics are some I took while experimenting with my early Christmas present hehehehe!

I was trying a portrait function on the camera. I guess it isn't good for close ups :). It does four really bright blinks before taking the picture. Soren had to protect his eyes!

Brown Family Christmas Party!

Logan, Ethan's Birthday, and Dinosnorzz

(Just a note: this was mostly written November 22nd.)

We are still packing our weekends with fun activities! I guess life never slows down. We spent the first weekend of November in Logan. The kids had fun playing and watching daddy use a jack hammer to pound up cement in his friend's basement. At first they refused to come downstairs to see him because the noise scared them. I made them, because I wanted them to see Jay working. They loved it after they got over their initial fears. I must admit it was kind of cool seeing him using it so skillfully. He occasionally curses the day he chose this profession, but I am so proud of him for all he has grown and learned over these last four years.

Ethan's birthday was the next wednesday, so we celebrated on Tuesday to make it possible for Jay to be at his Young men's activity.  Ethan wanted to "go eat something and watch a movie"  so that's what we did.  We went to KFC so they could get "pop shakes"  and chicken nuggets and biscuits.  Then we watched "Where the Wild Things Are".  The boys liked it because it had monsters and they loved the dirt fight; but I wished it had been a little more light hearted.  It was pretty depressing through the whole thing.

The weekend after Ethan's birthday we went to dinosnorzz!  We waited three months for this since they cancelled the last two months, so we were REALLY eager to finally get to go.  And it was WELL worth the wait.  We dropped Kayleigh off to spend the night with Aunt Laura, and headed down to Thanksgiving point.  After we piled our sleeping bags in the corner, they loaded us up with candy, popcorn and drinks and sent us in to watch their 3D dinosaur movie.  Then they split us into groups to take a tour of the museum.  Jayden is really interested in dinosaurs and likes to ask me "How did the dinosaurs die?"  (I have attempted to answer this question at least 100 times :)  Or he'll announce to others, family and strangers alike "the dinosaurs are dead."  His interest made us excited for this experience, but our boys were younger than most of the other kids there.  I hoped they weren't too young to be able to participate.  The tour starts with a dark hallway full of stars.  Jayden refused to enter the hallway and seemed on the verge of a tantrum, and I feared that was the beginning of the end of our fun there.  I was afraid of the embarrassment of a tantrum so I threatened that we would leave.  That was enough to help him gather his courage and make it through, he even begged to go back through the hall later.  We saw tons of fossils, learned lots of new facts, and had an amazing time.  Both boys were fascinated by all of the amazing dinosaurs we saw and they had other activities on the tour to keep them involved as well.  We hunted for knomes who protect the museum.   Jay and the boys crawled through a little cave.  They played with water and sand on their erosion table, made rubbings of different fossils and made a pretend dinosaur by putting arms and legs on a dinosaur model with magnetic pieces.  (Jayden put on all of the different kinds of pieces and he ended up with about 8 legs).  They also got to take brushes and uncover fossils in a little sandy digging area and watch "modern day dinosaurs"  eating their goldfish dinner.

 
Jay loved spending time as a family, and seeing how excited both of our boys were.  He loved how Jayden would jump every time a big dinosaur would show up on the 3D movie.  He said Jayden would lower his glasses for a minute to look at it and then put them back on.  My favorite fossils were the biggest turtle I've ever seen, the shark that makes a modern day great white shark look miniscule in comparison to size, and the cute baby mammoth fossil.  Ethan was so afraid of the shark and Jay thought it was so funny.  He pretended to throw him and Jayden into its mouth.(I wish I thought to get pictures of that!)  I just asked Jayden his favorite thing so it might not be as accurate as that day.   He said it was the stegosaurus and the t rex, as well as the water table.  Ethan said he liked the water table too.
After all of that, they had a scavenger hunt and everyone got a little dinosaur glider when they solved the last clue at the brachiosaurus.  Then we all laid out our sleeping bags under the dinosaurs and got ready for bed.

We slept in the corner behind this "utah raptor".

Sitting by the brachiosaurus foot.

This is the view we had from the floor :).

I have to admit, it wasn't the best sleep for me.  (I wished I brought two mats :)  But the experience for my boys made it SO worth it.  In the morning they woke us with sounds of birds and dinosaurs.  My FAVORITE memory of Ethan was when he woke up in the morning.  I think when he went to sleep, he imagined he'd find himself back in his own bed by morning.  He woke up completely amazed that the dinosaurs were still there.  He was running around our little area and exclaiming in an excited voice "look at the dinosaurs!"  He seemed almost overwhelmed with joy, pointing out each new one he saw to me.  I thought my heart would burst it was so adorable! 

My other favorite thing Ethan did is say the dinosaur names.  He actually knew what a triceratops and brachiosaurus were even before they told him (thank you, dinosaur train!)  I also was amazed how well he said them, he enunciated almost perfectly.  He is a good talker but still so little, so it was surprising and cute to hear him say brachiosaurus almost correctly.  Jayden was fun because he was so involved in all we did.  He had so many questions and wanted to know what everything was and  try everything.  There were a bunch of exhibits you could touch, and they let you know by putting a hand signal on them.  He figured that out quickly and would say "It's a hand one, you can touch it."  This is a funny story that happened after we got home and he was talking to his cousin Dalton.  Dalton: If I were there I would touch the dinosaurs.  Jayden: You can't touch them!  Unless they have a hand on them.  (They argued back and forth and Jay finally told Jayden that Dalton was just pretending.)  Jayden said this: "That's wonderful Dalton, that would be wonderful if you could, but you can't. "
After we got dressed and they made us breakfast, we thought it was time to go home.  But they had three more classes.  We got to talk to a paleontologist, make a wooden dinosaur 3d puzzle, and make a plaster cast of a fossil, and use a tool real paleontologists use to uncover and outline a fish fossil.  It was such a memorable experience and worth every penny.

Last week seemed equally busy, but I got a fun break on Thursday.  Jay graciously offered to babysit all of the kids overnight on new moon's opening night.  I was so worried as thursday night approached.  Jay had been sick all week and then EVERYTHING went wrong Thursday afternoon.
Kayleigh had bad diaper rash that I had tried in several ways to get rid of and Wednesday she had thrown up and started developing a fever.  I thought it was related to the diaper rash so I called for an appointment.  Thursday afternoon I loaded up the kids and was going to see the doctor quickly and then pick up Jay.  Sounds pretty simple right??  So we get to the doctors office and Ethan had fallen asleep.  I wake him and start to unhook his seat belt when he coughs and something disgusting flew out of his mouth and landed on his leg.  The smell immediately makes clear that he has just shot a ball of vomit onto himself...  In panic, I reach for the only cloth I can find, a new pair of pants that his grandpa gave him for his birthday.  As I am sopping up the puke with the pants it occurs to me that it might have been smarter to use the miracle new clean outfit in the car to change into rather than wiping up stinky throw up so that now I have two stinky pairs of pants.  Yeah...unfortunately, my good ideas often come too late.  So I wiped the spot with baby wipes in a futile attempt to remove the smellyness, and hauled my kids out of the car.  I had been giving Kayleigh tylenol for the uncomfortable rash as well as her fever, but decided to leave her off it so they could get a more accurate view of her symptoms.  I intended to give her some immediately after they took her temperature, but of course forgot to bring it.  So the doctor diagnosed the rash and gave me a prescription, but said the fever was something else and they needed to find out what.  He thought after looking at her that it was probably a urinary tract infection and they had to catheterize her.  It was SO awful.  She had already been pretty unhappy, but this sent her completely out of control.  I could barely keep back the tears as I held her down.  They left me alone to comfort her while they looked at her urine sample.  I finally calmed her enough to lay on my chest and listen to me sing after several minutes.  I thought the worst was over until I felt her body heave.  I ran toward the sink with her but the second heave came too quickly and I found myself and her COVERED in...you guessed it...throw up.  Luckily, she was already naked down to a diaper so her clean up was pretty fast, in spite of the fact that she was in NO mood for a bath.  I had tried to prevent any from hitting the floor, and there were only a couple of tiny splatters to clean up.  Then, I turned my attention to the endless sea of reeking white slime that flooded over my chest.  My shirt was all wet and I still couldn't get it off.  Not to mention, Kayleigh was laying awkwardly in my free arm, crying pathetically. She wanted to be cuddled, so I gave up. I clutched her to my chest the entire remainder of the visit.  It was actually nice to have her there to cover it for me:).  The boys were very well behaved through all of this and that made it much better for me.  Finally they gave me another prescription and sent us on our way. 
I was so uncertain what to do.  Kayleigh had drifted to sleep the second we got into the car, but Jay was clearly still sick and I feared it would be a long night without me there.  But I REALLY needed a night off and I had been looking forward to it for some time.  Jay assured me they would be fine, and after I called and found out that everyone was happy and having fun, I was able to relax and enjoy my evening, I even forgot about my stinky shirt! :)

I went with four of my sisters and a cousin to a twilight convention.  We had waited too long to get tickets to the theater we wanted to go to and had to buy the convention ticket to get good assigned seats.  I figured it would be dumb, but was excited to spend the whole evening with my sisters.  It ended up being the perfect evening!  We took pictures in a photo booth and looked at all of the exhibits, and I found a dress for Kayleigh that I just couldn't leave on the rack :)  It was too cute.

This is my twilight dress :)

My updo :)

They also had a beauty college there giving updos and manicures.  That was my favorite part!  I felt so pampered!  And it was fun to be silly and laugh at myself a little bit.  I haven't done that in a really long time.  We went to burger king between the convention and the movie and got twilight crowns and took funny pictures.  Then we wore the crowns to the movie.  So I showed up at the theater with a flashy updo and a burger king crown.  I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but I didn't care.  It was a carefree, silly, immature evening, and I loved every minute of it.  The movie was great if I don't analyze it too deeply, but the night with my sisters was priceless.  Thanks Jay!

Finally, this weekend we found an open time for Ethan's birthday party.  He wanted a tractor cake.  In fact, when people would ask him what he wanted for a present, all he would say is that he wants a tractor cake.  So I made my usual feeble attempt and he was really excited.  Kids make every effort so worthwhile.  They are so sweet and grateful.  Ethan is particularly cute about gifts and things.  He learned at a very young age to show excitement I guess.  As early as last Christmas he was doing this, but Saturday was no different.  He would open a new thing and even if it was a shirt or something, he would be like "Wow!  Awesome!  Or some other courteous response.  He got lots of cute clothes and toys and we had a great time with all of our family who came.

He shot someone in the head with his nerf dart :) (I think it was his aunt Ginger, but I am not positive.)

Someone took the eyes off the cake and put them in this halloween mask. :)