Christmas Blessings

We had a simple and relaxing Christmas this year.  We are so grateful for Jesus Christ and for the season of Christmas.  Santa Claus and presents and Christmas trees are fun, but the blessings we receive because of Jesus Christ enrich us and bring us peace.

Merry Christmas to all!

Well folks, Christmas is just around the corner so our family has been doing all sorts of fun stuff to celebrate. Here is a list of just a few: hay ride through Lights of the South, pictures with Santa, the lighted boat parade on the river, the Ward Christmas party dressed like shepherds, making cookies and candies, decorating a gingerbread house, and of course - getting sick. We have pictures to prove everything below (except for the sickness because a a picture of Bridger's snotty nose, or Jess's strep throat would be less than pleasing.)

Above is our award winning gingerbread house. The award actually goes to Bridger and Brody who helped with the project and is for "The Most Candy Ever Eaten in One Sitting by Two Boys Under the Age of 4". I'd like to say that ours was the best looking this year, but it just wasn't. It was fun to make though and we (Brody and Bridger especially) enjoyed eating lots of goodies. When we were all done with the house, Brody looked at it and said, “We need a chimney so the wolf can go down it and eat the little piggies.” Mmmmm....Christmas Ham!

These pictures are two of many that we took during the Ward party. A lot of people dressed up and though we ate on the floor and had to 'buy' our food with beans, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the simple Christ-centered program. When the primary choir of about 10 kids was up on the little stage singing, Bridger ran away from me to go up there and join them. Rather than call more attention to it by going to get him, I just let him participate. He got right up there with the singers and stood in the front, swaying to the music, smiling and looking around as though he were the star. When they walked off the stage he did too. It was really cute. I'm pretty sure that if Jess had lived back then in that area guys would have thought she was really hot in her head scarf. (unless they were blind - in which case they should have sought out Jesus.)

You can't really see the boats in the background of this picture, but this is me and the boys river side watching the boats drive by with all their Christmas lights on. I thought they would really like it, but all Brody wanted to do was push the stroller around and all Bridger wanted to do was run away.

On the hay ride at lights of the South - the Batman symbol in the back was not actually part of the show. Someone was in trouble! Strangely enough, Brody disappeared for a while right after that and came back sweaty and bruised with a triumphant smile...

Bridger likes trains. Jess likes to be a trucker.

I'm not sure what Santa was saying to Brody when this picture was taken, but I'm pretty sure it was mischevious. In any case, its a cute picture, and this was the first year that Brody actually sat on Santa's lap and smiled for the picture willingly - I guess he REALLY wants that toy crane that he's definately not getting. He'll just have to settle for the Tonka truck. As you can see below, Bridger does not like Santa, but took his candy anyway. I guess he finds no problem with taking gifts from perceived enemies; he wouldn't even let me check it for poison.

By the way, we are pretty sure that this guy was the real santa. He had a perfect beard and a nice hearty HO HO HO. He even reminded Brody to leave some cookies and milk for him. If only he could have known to say something like: "Eat your dinner every night little Brody, or next year I'm giving you reindeer poop."

The Bearded One

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for has arrived. You've probably seen alot of horrible things in your life, but what you are about to witness is, in the words of little Cindy Lou Who - "Hideodorous". Brace yourselves and ...
Behold the Beard in all its glorious forms!

Daddy's Home!

Finally.

If there is one thing that I've learned while Adam was gone, it is that our Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he put a man and a woman together. He loves us so much, He knew that we would need each other and that we would be happier with each other. I have felt incomplete the last 4 months and right when Adam came home, I felt whole again. The boys and I are so happy to have him back safe and unharmed.

He isn't ever allowed to leave me again.

This is at the airport when we first saw Dad.

The boys never want to let him go.

We love being a family again!

Home Again

We're back in Georgia after more than 2 great months in Nevada with my family. It was so nice to have family around everyday to help with the boys. At night, I was often able to go out with my friends or to the temple with my mom while someone stayed home with the kids. Having family with me while Adam is away was such a blessing. Those of you who live close to your parents or other family are lucky!
This is me with my best friend from high school- Kendra. We got to hang out a few times and let our kids play together. I even got to celebrate her birthday with her!
The last weekend we were there, my mom, the boys and I drove down to California to stay at my dad's new condo in Santa Ana. We weren't there for long, but we got to go to the beach, to IKEA, and to a really cool petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano.
My mom and I went out to go shopping one night at South Coast Plaza, only to realize that it closed at 8. What mall closes at 8? I was also able to go see my best friend Royah from when we lived in California and meet her family. I haven't seen her since my wedding day and it was fun to catch up with her and see her as a mom.The day before we left Las Vegas, we drove down to the Strip and let the kids see all the lights and cool buildings. Brody especially like the pyramid (the Luxor) and the lion (MGM Grand). We went to the Bellagio and walked through the flower garden (amazing) and watched the water show. Brody LOVES water fountains so I thought he would be really excited about the water show. He just covered his ears and kept saying it was too loud.
Now that we are home, it's nice to have my own bed to sleep in and to be with my Georgia friends again. I missed them a lot. I've been busy getting back into my church calling, taking care of all the things that built up over 2 months, and trying to stay sane until Adam gets home.

"Somebody is in Trouble!"

This year, we all decided to be superheroes. Brody chose Batman for him and Superman for Bridger. My mom helped me put my costume together. Every time Brody had his costume on, he would say the funniest things:

"Da da da da da da da da BATMAN!"
"Mom, somebody's in trouble. I better go help them!" (then he would run off to save them)

Bridger would also say "Da da da da da" even though the Superman theme song is nothing like that.

For Halloween yesterday, we started at the mall for trick-or-treating, since you could go as early as 4. The mall gives each store 2 bags of candy and tells them not to buy anything more. They want to keep the candy safe I guess. The only problem is that they give the same kind of candy to each store and it is all crap candy. You know what I'm talking about. Twilight mints, fruit wrapper candy, etc. Every store gave the same junk and we had to wait in line at every store to get the junk. It was pretty disappointing, but the kids thought it was cool for like 5 minutes so I guess it was worth it. Or was it?

Then we went to my parent's ward's Trunk or Treat and had chili for dinner and let the kids get more candy. We got way better candy there and it was fun to see all the decorated cars. Brody was very diligent about saying his "Trick-or-Treat" and "Thank you"s and Bridger loved running around pretending he was flying.

Of course, we totally missed having Adam there. I have realized there is a reason why Heavenly Father put a man and a woman together to make a family. It is incomplete without both parents. We each contribute different things to make our family function. I miss him and can't wait until he gets home. He was a superhero this year, too, even though he didn't get to dress up.

Fun Eventful Week

This week we had a lot of fun things around us to do. On Tuesday I went with my friend Heather, who I went to high school with, and her kids to the Lied Children's Museum. Adam told me he went there on a field trip when he was like 11 and said he remembered it being really cool. Heather also had the same memories, but she realized it was a lot bigger to an adult than to a child. It was kind of lame, but the kids really liked it. There were some really fun parts, like the costume stage, which as you can tell, Bridger really liked. We bribed the kids with M&M's to put the costumes on and Bridger was so mad he was choking on his candy. There was a little phone-booth type thing that you could go into and feel what a hurricane with 80 mph wind feels like, which was pretty cool, but Bridger stood outside the booth (he didn't want to go in with me) and banged on the glass and cried for me until it was over. It was fun to watch the kids explore and learn.

The next day, we went with Jenn (my YW president who I love) and her sister Natalie (who I also love) to the local pumpkin patch. The boys (meaning just Brody, since Bridger is afraid of EVERYTHING, including baby slides and jump houses) got to ride on all the rides and play with Jenn and Nat's kids. Brody was so brave to ride, even though he was scared. When we got home, the kids were so tired- Bridger slept for 3 1/2 hours, which might be a record.


One night at bath time, Brody decided he wanted to try taking a bath with his clothes on. He thought it was so funny. He got his clothes soaked, poured water and bubbles all over (and in) his shirt and laughed about it all. Then he decided to take his bath the normal way and took his clothes off so we could soap him up.