Christmas 2022

 I have to let go of my little need to have this blog in order chronologically. I definitely don't want to forget the memories we have made. Christmas 2022 was a fun one! Belle was old enough to understand presents. She wasn't old enough to understand why they cancelled nursery on Christmas.

On Christmas Eve I snuck a few selfies. Belle had been sick for a good 10 days leading up to Christmas, so we were all so happy that she was feeling better and back to her happy cheery self!

She was so fun on Christmas Eve, she went with Grammy and Papa Mitton and enjoyed some time at Great Grandpa and Grandma Mitton's house with all the family. 

She was tired and ready for bed when she got home. One of the perks of this age is that she had no idea that Santa was coming and that it is supposed to make it hard for her to sleep. :)

We woke up Sunday morning and headed to church. She was very happy to have everyone in the row singing with her. She loves to sing the hymns and always wants to be sure everyone has a book.

Unfortunately Paul caught the bug that Belle and Hudson had, so we were able to squeeze into a side row without him there. 

As happy as she was that everyone was there to sing with her, she was quite upset that there was no nursery on Christmas. She was crying and calling to everyone she knew. She was sure I was just confused and that they were really having nursery.

Fortunately, she was quickly distracted and forgot all about nursery when we got home.

It was so fun to watch her enjoy each gift she received. The boys loved their gifts as well. And I am so sad I didn't get any pictures of them opening their gifts! 

Hudson got a dip station (for working out), a weighted vest, adjustable dumbbells, and a weight belt.

Brogan got a subscription to Crunch Labs, the entire series for The Guardians of Ga'hoole books, a punching bag to hang in the garage, some gift cards, some clothes, and some ties. 

Paul felt well enough to join us for presents and then he rested until dinner time.

Everyone was really happy with their gifts and I loved watching them give gifts to each other. 

Kyle had Brogan

Reagan and Logan had Hudson

Hudson had Kyle

Bro had Reagan and Logan

Heidi gave Belle the cutest sugar cookie set. She plays with it every day and it is such a great toy!

Reagan and Logan got all kinds of fun things for their apartment and some gift cards for date night. 

When Belle woke up from her nap, she headed over to the Kartchner's for a little visit. We will be so sad when they move and they aren't right down the street anymore. 

She loved their little nativity and always played with it every visit!

Kyle came over in the evening. He was going to take Belle back to his house, but he decided to stay for dinner and games. 

It was a nice dinner and it makes my heart so full to see us all around the table. 

Brogan requeted a table cloth and candles. I'm so glad he did and I love that he cares about making it special and nice.

We had big plans to take a family picture. Paul asked Kyle to come in a button up shirt and tie since we were all in church clothes.  The plan quickly unravelled and our attempts were futile. More on that later.

Belle loved Kyle's Santa hat. She calls Santa "HoHo."

She put his hat on and stood next to him and asked me to take her picture. It was really sweet.

I decided we definitely needed a good picture of Belle with her Dada in front of the tree. I should have been recording everyone behind me. 

It was definitely a group effort, and we may not have gotten a family picture, but we got some super cute pictures of Kyle and Belle. 

This was the best we got. We were on the stairs for 10 minutes at least. We thought the phone was taking pictures. We had it all rigged up to the tripod with elastic hair ties, so it was hard to check and I felt like I was inconveniencing everyone so I was just trying to be quick. I finally just turned on the video (or I thought I did) and filmed for a couple of minutes (I thought). But I didn't. Paul didn't feel well and went back to bed. Reagan and Logan headed back to his house. And everyone was over it by the time I realized we had nothing. 

Maybe we will use this as our Christmas card next year. 

Random bits

Because it has been a minute since I have been updating, I am trying to play catch up with a random post here and there.

Two weeks ago on January 1, 2023, Hudson was set apart as a Priest. Paul ordained him, Logan stood in on the ordination, as well as Travis Pullins, Ryan Dye, and Bishop Aldrich. Last week on  January 8, 2023, he blessed the sacrament for the first time. I am so grateful for who he is now and who he is choosing to become. He's a great kid!

Belle loves chocolate! She is learning to poke the chocolate chips out of the pancakes. We definitely can't leave the extras on the table anymore or we find chipless pancakes with holes all through them!

I feel like I never have any pictures with Belle. She was being so sweet and loving (she always is) so I decided to snap a few selfies. I love this little girl!

 

Improved

Belle woke up with her eye still swollen from her bubble to the eye injury. It didn't bother her at all. Not one bit during the day, so I was thrilled that she was back to her happy self. 

She is such a resilient happy girl and so tough!  

The minute she woke up, she was ready to play with all her toys. For the first time ever, she drank her morning bottle and vitamins in her room. She usually likes to drink them in my bed and then snuggle and chill for a bit. But today she laid, in her room, on the couch her Dada got her, drank her bottle, and then immediately started playing with her sugar cookie toys.

She loves this cute set. You can connect all the cookies together (with velcro) and then there is a (pretend) knife that you can use to slice them apart. She loves using the knife and I love the skils and eye hand coordination that it teaches her. 

After you slice them apart, you can decorate the tops with other pieces. She loves lining them up on the cookie sheet and then decorating them.

And she definintely isn't ready for Christmas to be over. She love the Santa cookies and the snowman ones the most. 

She also LOVES sneaking into BoBo's rooma and finding his K'nex. SHHHHHH don't tell him. She knows she isn't supposed to be in there, so she definitely is sneaky about it.

We have other people that still live here too. We got the fireplace working a few weeks ago and Paul has definitely enjoyed it. It was just in time for all the wet weather we have been having. The rain has been wonderful and we are so grateful for all the snow in the mountains.

We are in full swing preparing for the wedding. 

My plan tomorrow is to start making the 200 sugar cookies that we will serve at the reception.

We are serving soup, hot chocolate, rolls, and cookies.

Gnocchi, Zuppa Toscana, Chicken Noodle, and Potato Bacon soups.

Crumbl cookies, and rolls from Frosted Bakery.

We have 5 different mixins for the hot chocolate bar and whipped cream, dark chocolate syrup, and caramel.

I am so excited for Reagan and Logan, and I am getting excited to not be planning this reception anymore! ;)

This was Belle this evening. I think she can tell I am a bit pre-occupied. She was hollering from our room tonight and kept saying, "I stuck" "I stuck!"  When I entered the room, this is what I found.  I'm so glad her eye looks so much better, and I am so glad we get to enjoy this sweet ray of sunshine. I will forever be grateful for the joy that she brings to every minute of every day!

COUNTDOWN!

 We are in the final countdown! Last week Reagan and Logan did their First Look and Bridal Portraits. 

We headed out to Redrock and the views were so beautiful!

Reagan changed into her dress in a pop up tent and they both braved some pretty cold temperatures.

I think it took Reagan a couple of days to defrost and be able to use her fingers again.

We are so excited to get the pictures back from her photographer.

And we are even more excited for the big day!!

13 days.

I don't know that there was ever two people more meant for each other.

It was September 5, 2009 at a family home evening that I asked our girls what qualities they wanted their husbands to have.

I recorded their answers right here on my blog. 

Reagan listed many qualities. 

-Handsome

-Not too tall

-Strong

-Funny

-Likes nature

-kind

-Loving

-Wants to go to the temple

But the one we love the most.

The one we just cannot believe. 

The post began with the words...

The man I marry will be....

The first thing Reagan wrote?

The man I marry will be - LOGAN!

On September 5th - 14 years ago, Reagan made an announcement that even Logan wasn't aware of. 

And now, here we are. I just love it! 

I love that their paths parted as they lived their lives.  And then God brought them back together time after time - when all the times were right. 

January 28th will be such an amazing day.

We love these two kids!

Bubble Injury

If I try to play catch up, these posts will never happen. So today I'll start with today. Belle loves church. She LOVES nursery. When Hudson picked her up from nursery we noticed her eye was pretty red. 

As we got home she kept rubbing it and complaining about her eye. She ate lunch, drank a bottle, and laid down for a nap. She was pretty tired and happy to be in bed. About 30 minutes into her nap, she woke up pretty sad. Again, complaining about her eye. I decided to call Debbie Nennemann to see if there was something that happened in nursery. 

Apparently a bubble popped on her eye. She fussed a bit and then was happy and playful again. I am guessing that as she slept, some more of the bubble solution started bothering her. We tried a bath, flushing the eye with water, cold compresses, and nothing seemed to work. She would lay on me for a few minutes, content, and then begin crying again. 

I finally convinced her to go on a walk. Of course, as soon as we hit Heidi's house, she decided she needed to visit. She was so happy through the whole visit so I figured she would be good once we returned home. I was completely wrong. 

She melted back into her eye pain and had such a rough night. No nap and eye pain were a horrible combination! She couldn't calm down and going to bed didn't seem to be on her mind at all. She has very rarely ever fallen asleep in my arms (not since she was older than 6 months), so it was truly a treat to lay holding her tight and having her squeeze me right back. 

She is growing up so fast and I cherish these moments of quiet and sweetness - those moments when a little more love (than normal) is necessary - and wanted. She was so tired that she transferred into her crib perfectly and I am hopeful that the swelling in her eye goes down and she wakes up pain free tomorrow!