Merry Christmas to Us

Last Christmas was very special because we had a new baby in our home which gave a different feeling to the festivities. This Christmas was more on the fun side because Bailey had somewhat of an idea of what was going on. We had prepped her by taking her to see Santa, which she hated, and we sang songs all month long about Christmas. So she kind of knew what was coming, but I think despite all of our "prep work", I was WAY more excited than she was.



Christmas Eve we spent getting some last-minute things together and spending time with each other. Bailey and I both slept in--she doesn't like sleeping anymore so she's been waking up late every morning and I've been up with a cough from about 2 AM - 5 AM every night so it was much-needed sleep. Omai was up bright and early though to start assembling Bailey's big present--a pink kitchen. I had procrastinated sewing a skirt for Bailey so I spent the afternoon doing that. We met my family at my dad and Lesli's for a beautiful spread of appetizers and sandwiches followed by a scrumptous dessert of chocolate fondue. My favorite were the avocado eggrolls from The Cheesecake Factory and Rice Krispy Treats to dip in the chocolate. Yummy!! We had to quickly exchange gifts before heading to the Graybills to see the family. Bailey got a Play-Doh kit from her Grandpa and I'm totally stoked about it. I might let Bailey play with it.

We were really late to the Graybill's and missed dinner, the nativity, and gift exchanging so I decided next year we're just going to do one family per day. It's no fun to have to rush around and miss stuff because of the time it takes to drive everywhere. Maybe if NASA comes up with a flying car we can make it work, but until then, I think we need to try and simplify.

When we got home we put Bailey to bed and I fell asleep on the floor as Omai told her a bedtime story. I woke up and came downstairs and thought about just leaving everything to be set up in the morning, but dug deep to find the energy to get Christmas all ready. It turned out to be really fun to play Santa with Omai and to imagine how Bailey would react to everything in the morning.

We all slept in again and enjoyed a quiet morning. We decided to wait for my mom and Paige to come out before taking Bailey downstairs so we all took showers and got dressed while we waited for them to arrive.



After opening a few presents we realized we were all starving so we took a break to make breakfast, but by this time it was about 11:30 AM so I guess it was more like lunch. Omai made his yummy potatoes and I make scrambled eggs that we ate with cinnamon raisin bread that our neighbors gave us from Great Harvest. After our tummies were filled my mom did the dishes while we finished opening our gifts. I got Omai some running shoes, sweat pants, sandles, and a reading light. He surprised me with a sewing maching. Wow! I've been thinking of all the things I want to make with it. I'm pretty excited.







Bailey loves her kitchen and I totally went overboard with everything else. I thought I had kept everything in check, but after Bailey lost interest and I basically had to open the rest of her gifts, I realized I probably got a few too many. But I figure the gifts are really for me because I get so bored of playing with her toys that I need some new stuff to play with.

Bailey got lots of gum in her stocking from Santa.





After all the gifts were opened we all rested and enjoyed a quiet afternoon. We headed up to my mom's house for dinner and met everyone after they had gone skiing for the afternoon. We ate taco soup compliments of Tyra and had chocolate fondue again for dessert. It never gets old. After dinner, my mom was nearly busting out of her skin in excitement to give the girls our gifts. We walked into her room where she had all our American Girl dolls displayed with refurbished beds and trunks to hold all the doll accessories. It was all very cool I have to say and the girls really liked everything.







We did a family gift exchange and we had picked Chris and Chelsea to get a gift for. I put Omai in charge of buying their gift which I think was the highlight of his Christmas. He bought them a Coleman tent. I had worked hard to totally throw them off by asking them what they thought about a cotton candy maker or a kettle korn popper. Hehe. I did really well because they were totally surprised!



Matching hats and scarves the girls got from grammy.



With the whirlwind of activity for the past couple days Bailey wasn't able to really play with her kitchen until this afternoon and I think she really likes it. She loves stirring through all the plastic food and opening the cupboards and slamming them shut. I think we done good.



I love Christmastime and the magic that is in the air. I love that I have a daughter I can teach about Christmas and about why we celebrate it. I found myself thinking often about the Savior throughout the day as I would reflect upon how wonderful our lives are and how many blessings we have. We did a Sub-4-Santa with the Graybills for a Tongan family who have six kids and another on the way. The dad has a part-time job, but it just isn't enough to provide everything the family needs. When I find myself grumbling because I think we don't have enough money for something I want I think about our fridge that is full of food, or our heat that keeps us toasty warm and remember that others aren't as fortunate. During a Relief Society lesson a couple weeks ago the teacher said it's hard to imagine not being able to provide a Christmas for your family, but that it's a reality for a lot of people. It's humbling to know how much I have when there are so many people who are struggling. I really am so blessed.

Bailey Gets a Haircut and Pigtails

Yesterday at church I went to check on Bailey in nursery between Sunday school and Relief Society. I peaked through the window and saw all the kids sitting at the table doing an activity, but I couldn't see Bailey anywhere. I thought maybe she was throwing a tantrum and sitting against the door where I couldn't see her. I opened the door a crack to see if I could see her, but when I looked over at the table again as I walked in, there she was--she had been sitting there the whole time working away. I totally didn't recognize her because she looked like a boy! She had pulled her headband off and so her hair was all shaggy and hanging in her face. I decided it was time for a haircut. Here she is with her new do.

Santa is Scary

We took Bailey to see Santa a couple times this year and it was exactly how I envisioned it--with lots of tears and a little screaming. For playgroup we went to the Festival of Trees to see the trees of course and the line was short to see Santa so we decided to give it a shot. I tried to warm Bailey up to the idea as we waited in line, but it didn't help. As soon as I sat her on Santa's lap she immediately started crying--poor Santa. He was a good sport and held her nice and tight while a friend snapped these awesome shots.

The next day we took Bailey to Emilie's Santa Session and the outcome wasn't much different. We thought if we could warm her up to him then at least she would stand next to him with a semi-decent look on her face, but that didn't work either. Those pictures are yet to come.

Bailey now says "Santa scary" when we talk about him. I guess that's okay since I would rather have her focus be on other things during Christmastime rather than just Santa.

Thanksgiving and Vegas

I've have been a total slacker with this blog for the past 5 months and hardly know where to begin. I have every intention of documenting those many months if it kills me. Here's just one thing we've been up to.

One highlight of the past couple months was a totally fun trip to Las Vegas. Omai had to film a little league tournament over Thanksgiving weekend for Sports Filmz. We debated for a long time about what to do as far as when I would go down and what to do with Bailey. Our first plan was to all drive down together on Wednesday and come back Sunday. I was a little hesitant about this plan because we would drive down with Omai's friend and his wife so I wouldn't have a car to get around while I was down there. Then Orin and Meagan offered to watch Bailey while we went and slowly our plan evolved into me flying down Friday afternoon and leave Bailey with Meg and Or and then drive home Sunday with Omai and his friend. It all worked out perfectly and made for such a fun trip. Omai spent Thanksgiving day working so it wasn't the greatest for him. His boss' wife made dinner for them so at least he got something, but he had to eat standing up in a little trailer that was used as the filming headquarters for the weekend. Not the greatest Thanksgiving he's had in his life.

Once I got to Vegas I didn't see Omai much, but I got to visit a lot with my good friend Andrea who I lived with down at BYU my sophomore year. We were able to catch up from the last almost 10 years and it was absolutely fantastic. I met her cute little boys and saw her adorable house that she's decorated almost all herself. For the past three weeks I've walked around my house thinking, what would Andrea do with this space, or, Andrea made this space functional in her house so I can do it too. It was a weekend well spent.

I got to do a little shopping because Omai won $150 playing Black Jack. I also got in on the action winning a whopping $2.50. I also won $7.25 in the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. It's not much, but all I cared about was paying for my lunch so I was happy. We also ate very well going to the Rio Buffet and the Claimjumper restaurant where I ordered a six layer piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Oh boy!! Talk about death by chocolate. Despite my desire to consume the whole thing I shared it around and could hardly finish one layer. It was yummy.

On the way home we got stuck in a snowstorm and spent 14 hours trying to get home. It was pretty miserable. The only saving grace was that Omai's friend, Mullet, had a DVD player in his truck. Psych, Robin Hood, and How to Train a Dragon became my lifesavers. We stopped at a restaurant in Fillmore and spent almost an hour waiting for our food. Turns out it was basically the only open eating establishment other than the Phillips 66 for many miles in either direction. Another up side is that we were heading north and not south because a diesel truck carrying fuel had rolled on the freeway blocking all southbound traffic. We heard those people would be stuck for 7 - 8 hours on the freeway. Now that's a bummer if I've ever heard one.

We finally made it home pulling into our driveway at 11:30 PM. Bailey still recognized Omai having not seen him for 6 days and I swear she grew like three inches. Meg and Or said she did great and just played and played and played. We're already planning our next trip to Vegas in March for the MWC tournament. Can't wait!

Bailey's New Bed

Bailey is growing so fast and I find myself getting a little too excited for her to be a big girl and it ends up not working out very well for me. One day I decided it was time for Bailey to start sleeping in her big girl bed. I took down her crib and brought up her bed. The assembly ended up taking me way too long because I decided not to use my common-sense part of the brain. Anyway, after putting it almost all together then taking it all apart again, I finally got it put together the right (and safe) way. Even though she wasn't cooperating with me as I tried to take pictures of her, I think she really did like her new bed.

And as a side-note--we got these cute paintings from a neighbor who just moved in down the street. Bailey loves them!







Grumpy Bailey. She knows when I want her to look cute for pictures and I think it makes her mad :).



Isn't this more like the look of a grumpy teenager rather than a 20-month old baby?...



The part of this that doesn't work very well for me or Omai is that since putting together her toddler bed, we find her in all sorts of weird positions--most of which are NOT in her bed. She often won't stay in her bed whether it be for naps or for bedtime. One day I put her to bed, went down into the garage to clean out my car, came back inside to grab something and Bailey was sitting on the kitchen floor playing. She likes to get all her toys or books out and play with them after we put her to sleep. So we usually have to fish a bucket-full of toys out from under her before we go to sleep ourselves. She likes to play with beaded necklaces that we put in a drawer in her nightstand. It's not unusual to find her with four or five of them around her neck and she'll be curled up on the floor next to her bed. I'm terrified she's going to strangle herself. Omai found her the other morning asleep half-way under her bed. He had to lift up the bed to get her out so her head wouldn't get stuck. Even though I vowed I would never do this, she ends up sleeping in my bed most nights from about 3 AM on because she'll cry, I go check on her, she'll be asleep on the floor, she screams when I put her back in her bed, I'm sick of getting no sleep, so I just bring her in bed with me. Even though we have a California king-size bed with plenty of room for both of us, she ends up sleeping perpendicular to me with me on the edge of the bed and her feet in my back. I think we're going to resort back to her crib until we need it for another baby. This arrangement just isn't working for me.

Here is an example of one of the many ways we've found Bailey asleep.

Pools and Poop

For Easter we got Bailey a little kiddie pool and I put it to good use this summer by having her bathe in it some mornings in the driveway. I would warm up the water for her and she loved it. She would splash and splash in the water, throw all her toys down the driveway for me to go fetch, and splash some more.

One morning barely five minutes into her bath I could tell she needed (and started trying) to poop. I quickly grabbed her and got her out of the pool because I didn't want all my hard work of warming up her bath to be ruined. I ran inside and sat her on her potty, and viola--she totally pooped in the toilet. It was awesome!! Mess avoided. I wiped her little bum and she was back in the pool splashing away.

Our Little World

Throughout each day as Bailey and I experience our lives together in our small part of the world, I feel like I'm watching little miracles happen all the time--many times a couple in every hour. And I think to myself, "Wow, this kid is amazing! I should do something like document it or something." I hate my hand writing first of all, and writing takes too long for me so I have a hard time wanting to pull out my journal to write anything down. I also think to myself, no one wants to read about another little baby saying goo goo ga ga all day. Well, I've decided I don't care, and I'm going to document away and tell you of a couple little miracles that happened today.

Bailey has decided she wants to be put in the "picky eater" category so we have a small battle on our hands at least three times a day. Today, I had tried giving her everything I could think of and she wouldn't eat anything so I washed my hands of breakfast and called it quits for the morning. After breakfast, she was "helping" me load the dishwasher (but in order to help me load it, she first has to take everything out) and I just wanted to get the job done so I needed a distraction. Food! I thought. Well, there are two sure-fire things Bailey will eat--no matter what; grapes and oranges. Turns out I had grapes so I put a bunch on a small plate and set them on a little table that is just her height. When she was done, she, of course, threw the plate on the ground and commenced "helping" me load the dishwasher. I asked her to pick up the plate so we could put in the dishwasher. She cautiously walked from the dishwasher, to the table, and leaned down to pick up the plate, which she couldn't quite reach without letting go of the table. She figured as much, so she sat on the ground and crawled over to the plate, picked it up, and hefted it onto the table. Then she pulled herself up to the table, picked up the plate again, and handed it to me so I could put it in the dishwasher. Ta da! Do I have the smartest baby in the world or do I have the smartest baby in the world!?! I picked her up and gave her a big hug as we squealed together and practiced giving kisses on the cheeks.

Well, lunch time came around and what does lunch time mean?--eatin' time, right?... Well, Bailey didn't get the memo because she was not having it. I put her down from her high chair again having lost yet another meal-time battle and Omai and I decided we were going to play this game the Nana Graybill way--no snacks, treats, or anything in between for Bailey. About an hour later, she started to get fussy and my first thought was that she was tired, but then remembered she hadn't really had anything substantial to eat all day and decided to try my luck at feeding her some mashed potatoes and turkey. And ta da again, she downed probably 2 cups of potatoes and turkey with a little cheese mixed in. Now, this probably doesn't seem like anything, but remember that Bailey has decided to be a picky eater and everything I have tried giving her the last week she has adimately refused. I've even tried holding her down to force a bite of food into her mouth hoping that after one little taste she'll realize that food is a good thing and that she should eat it. I think a part of me is so worried that our next Dr.'s appointment will be similar to Bailey's 12-month appointment (me leaving in tears because the Dr. says my baby's malnourished) that I've realized I'm constantly trying to get her to eat--whatever she'll put in her mouth. I even had a dream/nightmare that Bailey barely gained a pound when we weighed her at the Dr.'s office weighing only 20.4 lbs. The Dr. was worried and questioned if I was feeding her. Ahhh... Breathe. She is finally growing out of her 9-month clothes so that must mean I'm doing something right. So today's turkey and potatoes with a little cheese on top is a little miracle in my small part of the world.

And just because I'm a visual person and like seeing pictures with my narratives, here are a few pictures I took of my little picky eater with a photo contest in mind entitled, "Yellow" (that I never entered).



And here's the shot I was patiently waiting for, yellow tongue and all...

Island Park with the Graybills

This year for our Annual Graybill Campout we went to Island Park for a couple days. There's nothing like roughing it with a soft bed, running water, refrigerator, and hot tub. The downfall was that half the family couldn't get off work to make the trip. We headed out Tuesday morning but had a slight delay as we met up with the whole group. Erin was following Keri and Maryanne and the kids in Keri's Subaru to The CAD Store and got rear-ended by a ReddiIce truck. Erin was okay and so was the car for the most part, but we had to make some phone calls to get things squared away to cover any damage to the car. It wasn't the greatest start to the trip, but our spirits were quickly renewed and we were off.



About a year and half ago, Dion was working on a project in Rexburg and discovered a delectible little pizza joint called Craigo's. It was all Omai and the kids could do from salivating at any mention of pizza--they had the opportunity to taste of Craigo's goodness last year and couldn't wait for another visit. When we got there, we all filed into a little room off the kitchen and had our way with the pizza buffet. And it was, as Paige would say, DELISH! There were about eight different kinds of pizza, a pasta bar, a salad bar, and my favorite (and I think everyone else's too), a dessert pizza buffet. It was fantastic! (And as a side note, they have fabulous canned Mandarin Oranges, which is all Bailey would eat.) After stuffing ourselves to the gills, we were off.

When we got to Island Park the first thing all of us noticed were the mosquitos. My family usually goes there in the fall so summertime at The Pines was new to me and I thought we were going to be eaten alive. Keri quickly ran to the store to get bug repellant for all and I don't think any of us got bitten. Phew. Like I said, experiencing Island Park in the summer was new to me and the word I would use to describe the scenery is BREATHTAKING! The foliage was so thick and green and it covered the hills and mountains for miles. In this part of Idaho there is mostly just flat fields and rolling hills so you can see for miles and miles and the green goes on for miles and miles. It's incredible.

On Wednesay we drove into Yellowstone and had a delightful time. On the way into the park, we stopped to see the Buffalo, and man, are they big.



For lunch we stopped by a little stream and were pleasantly surprised at the beauty and tranquility of our surroundings. Here's Bailey with her daddy enjoying the scenery and lunch.



Here was our view from the picnic table.



(And I think we saw Oprah's boyfriend Steadman there in his fishing garb. We aren't 100% sure, but Erin, Keri and I all think it was him. We should've taken a picture darnit :)) But just so you can get a visual of our experience...



After lunch we drove into Fire Hole Canyon to see the falls.



Then we were off to see Old Faithful.



On the way home, Omai took us along the scenic by-way to Mesa Falls. Once again, it was a breathtaking site.

This was the view from the ledge of the falls.





The view from the walkway was a little scary when you looked down to the sheer cliffs and tumultuous water below.



On the way home, we stopped at Craigo's again to make ourselves sick on the pizza buffet. Yum Yum. Then we headed over to a carousel for a couple rides on the ponys. Bailey LOVED it! This is my favorite picture of the trip.





Thanks everyone for a fun vacation.