January so far...

We had a birthday/ anniversary party for my grandparents--it was really nice, a lot of fun. We love you Gram and Gramps!!

 Emmalee made the most amazing cakes for the occasion... I only pictured 2...there were 4...!!

Jax went to the dentist for a check-up (he has been other times--but for other sader things..) I was very worried that it would be a nightmare; but it was GREAT. The staff was SO good with him. It was amazing. He then went in later and got 2 small cavities filled--with no numbing and no gas!! It was a miricle. And he loves the dentist now. Hallelujah.

   I have a little goober that LOVES over sized sunglasses. 

Maybe someday, if summer ever comes, he will be able to wear some  sunglasses for real. :)

I think my kids are SO beautiful...

Clarissa's Baby Shower happened, it was SO much fun!! We love that girl!

And we all love happy celebrations and such fine excuses for family get-to-gethers!

Oh heavens, and we had the most amazing food at Clarissa's Baby Shower..this is what my plate looked like. It tasted SUPER good.

 You can kind of see my parents new "addition" to their house: a HUGE new living room. They just knocked down all the walls on that half of the house to make room for one big room. It's getting closer to being done and looks great!!

It was fun to have Zach at the shower. We love Zach!

We love ELI!!

Rod has been sick off and on--he is "on" right now. Poor thing. 

The weather is SO terrible; I can't even explain the negative effects it is having on my body, mind and spirit! (I'm being slightly dramatic--but only JUST slightly.)

I have never in my life contemplated moving SO much as I have this winter. I keep finding myself saying/screaming "I hate Utah!!" It is quite tragic. Heaven help my negative attitude....

Cuddling with a fever.

Justin has been plugging away at the bathroom. It has definitely taken WAY more time than he thought (this is when I want to insert an "I told you so!") and is way harder than he thought. It's going on 4 weeks and we still don't have a toilet up there. But that should come soon--maybe today?? Huraa.  He is doing a very good job though and learning a lot. He will be able to build his own house by the time this house--and it's list of projects--is through.

And this is what I do: I practice patience; and fail the majority of the time. And I clean.

January has got to be one of the worst months.

Oh, how could I forget?!

After posting my "Christmas" post, I realized I didn't even document my awesome husband. I love him. He really went above and beyond and then farther beyond that, for Christmas this year; all for me. Not only was it all really nice stuff, it was REALLY thoughtful. I'm not bragging (meh, maybe I am,) I just think it is a really good thing to remember the really nice things your spouse does for you. And I need to remember more often, thus the documenting; thus the bragging. :)

So thoughtful present # 1: Boots

These boots. 

It doesn't get much more thoughtful than that. I didn't even tell him what kind I wanted, all he knew was that I wanted/needed boots. What a good man to have a thought like that with an end result like the picture above. Ahh, what fun.

Thoughtful present # 2: A freaking Oreck Vaacum Cleaner.

This Vacuum. It's called: Magnesium.

It weighs 9 lbs. Nuf' said.

This was actually super thoughtful on at least 2 counts: 

a) He actually originally bought if for me for our anniversary (back in November,) apparently he had been saving and saving for months; but we decided not to buy gifts for each other because we were going on the cruise. So he saved it for me as an "extra" for Christmas instead of spending the money on something else that maybe he wanted; because I didn't know about the money, he could have spent it on anything after we decided to not get each other gifts--I wouldn't have known, it wouldn't have been "bad" if he did, we decided not to get each other gifts for heavens sake. But he didn't, he spent it on me, on my new vacuum. Cute heart.

b) Our original vacuum is broken and weighs probably 50lbs. I've loathed it ever since we have had stairs--I was using it broken assuming broken was better than no vacuum--but I thought it was ruining our new carpet--so when my parents got a new vacuum we jumped on their ancient old one. It is also broken, but not as bad as our old one. So we have been using that. It's a pretty typical vacuum weight, like 35lbs-ish. We have used that for like a year. I have dreamed about a light vacuum for years and years; probably like any other mom that has stairs. Anyway, needless to say this was really thoughtful of him to get. I thought we were way further away from buying a new vacuum, it was on the bottom of "the list" sadly, and he just really surprised me with a really nice vacuum. It's really wonderful. 

Thoughtful present #3:
So, a fun fact about me is that I love waffles. Like a lot. That and/or some good french toast is my absolute favorite breakfast food. Justin, on the other hand, kinda couldn't care less. Long story short, he doesn't love waffles.
Anyway, so I busted my beloved waffle maker (like dropped it from 8 ft up busted,)about 2 months ago. I was a wreck about it, Justin just kind of thought it was hilarious, (it literally busted into like 10 different pieces.) I haven't made a waffle since. Boo-hoo. 
Sooo, as you probably guessed (but I didn't) Justin got me a really nice waffle maker. Which, how thoughtful is that? That was a 'he's only thinking of you' gift. You can't twist any kind of hidden motive behind this gift.
In case you are wondering, it looks like this:

It's soooo lovely.

Thoughtful present #4 (yes, there is more...!):

Let me just preface this present with this statement: Justin loves Apple products. L-O-V-E. He will, some day, have all Apple electronics. There are worse things...;) 

Anyway. He knows I have been crushing on the iPad since my sister got one. (Justin has been crushing on them WAAAY before that.) She keeps it in her kitchen mostly and does recipes (that was what I really liked) and can just prop up the iPad and cook, music, kid entertainment, the list goes on and on...We were like years away from that purchase though, and I knew it, and that was fine, not a necessity, it was down there with the vacuum on "the list". ;) But Justin really wanted one, he's wanted one forever.  Anyway, lo' and behold the man (Justin) is given one at work about a month before Christmas (yes, for the millionth time his work is the coolest place to work,) and get this, he doesn't tell me, keeps it secret. 

And gives it to ME for Christmas.

  His special iPad that he has always wanted. He gave it all to me, and it is mine. And that is really nice. And in case you live on Krypton, this is what it looks like:

And it's beautiful.

So, ya. Justin rules. And I reap the benefits. :)

Love you babe.

And I'm not saying that you have to give awesome material gifts or spend a bunch of money to make someone happy (it might help...;). But it really is the thought that counts! And I think it is fairly easy to tell if someone gets you something that they have put a lot of thought into. And I really appreciated his thoughtfulness shinning through on these, albeit, really, awfully nice gifts.

ps. If your wondering what I got him for Christmas, it was a pillow. But a good firm one at that. You can't understate the worth of a good pillow...;) And then he bought clothes online and we said I gave them to him for Christmas. Go me!! Mine are the more everyday thoughtfulness kind of non-material, inexpensive gifts...;)

Again, love you babe! :)

Our Christmas 2012 Post

Warning: I say "cute"(and rightfully so) in many forms many, many times in this post. You have been warned.

Christmas Eve was spent at my mom's house. My mom made us a delicious meal (she always makes salmon for Christmas Eve...yum!) and we acted out the nativity and did our brother and sister presents. It was such a good time! Sure do love all the time we get to spend with family during the holidays.

I especially love my mom.

Seriously?? A picture speaks a thousand words. I love all their different faces, kind of telling of their personalities. Little goobes. I love them. Can you believe Jaxtons face? Cause I can't.  THEY ARE SO CUTE!!

  

The nativity was really too cute. The actors did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, regardless of story line. :) In case you couldn't tell we thought it was SOO picture perfect regardless. I just want to kiss all those little cuties!!

These little goobers kept finding this big present to be the perfect seat throughout the night--sometimes together--it was their perfect size. They always looked so proud. Cuties!!

 My mom makes everyone super cool PJ for Christmas Eve. Here are the little guys of the family sportin' theirs. They loved them. And seriously?? SO CUTE!!

Check this out, it doesn't happen everyday.  Hazel was all about Justin for a little while, and Rod joined in; precious.

Clarissa a Zach lounging in their new pants--Zach's are UofU pants, Clarissa's are BYU. Hehe, funny. :)
I should have taken a picture of EVERYONE in their pants...dang. They were sooo cute!
My mom thoughtfully picts out special material for each person, so it makes it really fun to see what she picked for each person. Except Steve and Justin, they opt out of the pant tradition. They are too cool for school/pj pants. So my mom get them tools. Again, very thoughtful.
It was really, so much fun. I love my family.

Christmas Day

These are my two little goobers on Christmas morning.  I heart them.

Awww. To bad Rod thought it was more of a headlock than hug...still cute.

The kids LOVED opening presents (shocker, I know.) But I mean the actual act of opening boxes and unwrapping; not just what was in them. They loved to help us open our gifts even if it wasn't for them. 

Jax got me a clip for my hair, and got Justin some pens, and a ball for Rod. Not the ball in the picture--a dog ball, from All a Dollar--it was super cute. ;) He was really excited about that. He was excited about everything. That might have something to do with the copious amounts of sugar he consumed so quickly and  early in the morning...;)

  

I love these pictures of Justin and Jax.:)

So this year I got 90% of their presents at Savers. It was like $15 total. And they thought it was great. I may or may not do that again, just because wrapping was a HUGE pain. Nothing is in boxes, it was terrible. Plus, some stuff doesn't work very good. (Yes, I know that is why they where at Savers in the first place, but I'm just saying, that was still annoying. Plus, broken crap belongs in the garbage, not Savers.)

Like this car track, it works like 40% of the time, super cool when it works, but you really have to mess with it to get it to go...flop.

At about 11am we head over to Preston and Debbie's house for lots and lots of spoiling and yummy food.:)

Great Grama Wing, Great Grama Gause, and Brooke and Jason and their kids were there too, tons of fun! We all get presents from all of them, I say again, spoiled...but seriously, we don't super mind. ;)

It was really, really nice to be with everybody; such a nice afternoon. Lots of smiling and laughing; and napping by babies, which in turn leads to more smiling and laughing. 

We love the Gause's.

Jaxton modeling his new Jam-ams from Grama Gause.

Grama stealing a hug from the little goobe--you gotta steal em' if you want em'! :)

 Grama and Grampa Gause had some real "score" presents with my kids. These shovels are one in that category. Jax loves this shovel. He loves to go and shovel, see the picts at the end of this post. 

I know these two pictures of Rod are blurry, but that's all I got. And you can still see the excitement through the blur. Jax and Rod both got 2 of these super cool monster trucks, EACH! They were in heaven. If I had to pick a favorite present they each got for Christmas, these monster trucks would probably be it for both of them. They are OBSESSED with these monster trucks. They each have a monster truck in their hands about 75% of their time at home. They LOVE THEM. Such a simple thing; you just can't top it.

For cute!!

We were all spoiled, thanks so much Gause clan, you are the best! We love you!

We headed back over to my mom's house that evening for more time with wonderful family.

I love Christmas. I love family.

 I just love these last 2 photos, they are the day after Christmas. Jax loved shoveling, if you cant tell from that to-cute-for-words-photo.

Happy Holidays.

Jax lost another tooth...

So, the many years of Jax hitting his teeth over and over, and over and over, is taking it's toll. He lost another tooth, I have seen this coming for a while...I'm wondering if his other front tooth will fall out before too long as well. That poor kid. I think the tipping point for this particular tooth was a run in with a very overweight child at McDonalds. Darn it. But it probably would have come out eventually regardless because of the past trauma.

  I'm a little worried about spacing for his permanent teeth, (not for another 4yrs...!!) Especially if he looses the other front tooth. I'm going to get him to the dentist soon. Just thinking about that is a nightmare--he hates the dentist. The last time he was there they pulled a tooth--and Jax screamed and bled and we held him down. It was like 15th century style. uhg. 

Oh but he is still SOOOO cute. :)

This was a particularly sweet moment between Rod and Mairee. He just couldn't get enough of her hugs; it was darling. And kind of rare.

Check out Natasha's face!! Hehe, despite what it looks like, she was actually telling me to hurry and take a picture because it was too cute.

Her face in this one is lots better. :)

 On the subject of teeth, Rod has all of his, and has for a while. It really makes him look more grown up than other kids his age. By a ton. Plus he is huge.

 

 Peek-a-boo!