In the lovely month of December

Unfortunately, I have a lot of stressful memories from the month of December.  We discovered a huge mold problem in our bathroom just before Thanksgiving, and we are still in the process of rebuilding/remodeling our shower.  That means Matt and I have been showering in the girls' bathroom for over a month now.  I've gotten used to it, but it certainly disrupted our schedule at first.  Also, when I went down to the crawl space to bring up our Christmas decorations, I discovered mouse poop covering everything--again.  It turns out a gopher ended up tunneling into our crawl space, too.  They are tearing up a field near our house to build more town homes.  So, all those little critters need to find a new place to live, but they are not welcome in my crawlspace or in my yard.  While I usually may have handled both events with less anxiety, I was particularly concerned about the baby and how the mold and mouse droppings I came in contact with might affect her.  That caused me a few sleepless nights.

Fortunately, I was able to contact my doctor and he assured me that if I stayed away from the mold and mouse droppings as much as possible, the baby should be fine.  It appears that I'm in the clear for contracting the horrible diseases that could affect baby.  So, now my mind is at rest.  I've been grateful for my mom who came over and cleaned the things in my crawlspace and for Matt who has been working on the bathroom all by himself.  Our cat seems to have even taken care of the gopher problem in the crawlspace.  Though I'm not going down there to check.  I will leave all the risky things for mom and baby to other people.

I know it's kind of weird to start a Christmas blog post by sharing some of my major stressors.  Yet, while the month of December hasn't been perfect, I've experienced real joy, contentment, and even peace because of the Atonement of Christ and the joy of spending time with family.

We got our first snow on November 28th and built a snowman.

The first weekend in December, we drove out west past Eureka to cut down our Christmas tree.  We drove up this little four wheel drive road, which we discovered did not have any place for us to turn around.  After awhile, Matt decided that our best bet was to back down the mountain, which was a little terrifying for me, but as we were backing down the mountain, I noticed the "perfect" Christmas tree.  So, we got out of the truck and cut it down.

Matt with the "perfect" Christmas tree.

The girls and Matt playing on the steep hillside.

Kirsten was scared of the steep hillside, and Reagan so sweet to "help" her back of the hill.

The second weekend in the December my mom took us to go see The Nutcracker at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo.  The performance was wonderful.  It was fun to see the girls be so inspired by the music, the colors, and the dancing.

My mom gave each of us a Nutcracker Christmas ornament.

The girls with a nutcracker

 After the ballet, we went out to eat at Denny's, which is the girls favorite restaurant.  It's their favorite because they get to eat Kraft Mac and Cheese.  I like that they eat and kids meals are free after four  o'clock.

A fun singing Santa at the restaurant

Kirsten with the Rudolph nose from her cup

Reagan with the Rudolph antlers from her cup

 We had such a nice time with my mom at The Nutcracker.  What a memory!

Starting around Halloween, Reagan has been having nightmares.  Matt came up with the idea of putting Porter in bed with her to comfort her, and it has worked.  She sleeps very soundly with her doggy at her feet.  It has also been really cute to see her bond with her doggy so much.

Reagan hugging her doggy.

 Kirsten has been making a lot of progress at school, and I particularly enjoyed seeing how she sounded out these Christmas words.

Christmas words that Kirsten wrote.

 While Matt was out of town one week, the girls and I made a big project of baking gingerbread cookies.  When I spread the flour on the table to roll out the dough, Kirsten grabbed a handful and threw it in the air yelling "Snow!"  Then the girls rolled around in it like dogs while I cut most of the cookies.  I confess, I had to work hard to control my temper as I lost control of my kitchen.  We got it cleaned up and had yummy cookies to share with our neighbors.  So, it all worked out.  More than that, the girls have a fond memory of baking.

Reagan with the finished product.

Kirsten with the finished product.

 Later that week we had dinner at my parents' house, and inspired by The Nutcracker, the girls asked Nana to teach them some ballet.  Now Reagan tells me that she doesn't even need lessons because she already knows ballet.

Doing ballet

 One afternoon, Santa came to Kirsten's school to spend time with the children while they waited for their parents to pick them up.  I was glad I brought my phone to take a picture.

Kirsten with Santa on his motorcycle.

 On the Wednesday before school got out, Kirsten had her kindergarten Christmas program, which was quite possibly her favorite thing about school up to this point.  They learned tons of cute Christmas songs and some of them, including Kirsten, even had speaking parts.  Kirsten did such a great job.  We were so proud of her.

Kirsten with her daddy after the performance.

Kirsten with her teacher.

Kirsten with Grampa, Nana, Reagan, and Uncle Michael

Kirsten with her mom and dad

 For our anniversary, Matt and I went to see A Christmas Carol at the Orem Hale Center Theater.  They always put on stellar performances, and we really enjoyed the show.  Afterward we went to eat at Olive Garden with a gift card I discovered in my purse from last Christmas.  It was a yummy meal to go along with fine entertainment.

The next day Matt and my dad moved Kirsten's bunk bed into Reagan's room, and now it's Kirsten and Reagan's bunk bed in Kirsten and Reagan's room.  I've been really pleased by how well they've adjusted to sharing a room.  Now Reagan wakes Kirsten up in the morning.  So, I don't have to deal with her grumpiness.  They actually seem to be getting along a lot better these days, too.  I was apprehensive about the transition exacerbating behaviors problems, but it seems to have had the exact opposite effect, which has resolved one of my other stressors for now.  I'm so grateful!

On Christmas Eve morning, my mom came over to make cookies for Santa with me and the girls.  That evening Uncle Jake came down from Logan to celebrate with us.  My parents and Uncle Michael came down the street to our house, and we had another Mary and Joseph dinner.  It's fun to eat on the floor, especially for the kids.  The food was all pretty appealing to them, too, since there was plenty of cheese, bread, crackers, and grapes.  We talked about the birth of Christ and sang Christmas carols together.  Afterward, we went to see the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork.  They do a fantastic Christmas light display, which is always fun to see.  When we got home, the girls set out some cookies and milk for Santa and went straight to bed.  They were so sleepy from all the celebrating!

Dancing with Nana while we sang Christmas carols

 On Christmas morning, they woke up around seven to find their Santa presents.  They each received a big red sled, which was perfect because it snowed about eight inches over the night.  What a Christmas miracle!

Kirsten holding up her My Little Pony flashlight

Reagan turning her My Little Pony flashlight on

Kirsten and Daddy checking out the tool set she got from Santa

 Then we opened the presents under the tree.

Reagan loved the stuffed unicorn from Aunt Emily.  Kirsten got one too.

Uncle Jake was the "best" Uncle for giving the girls these Zootopia stuffed animals.

Reagan with Uncle Jake.

Reagan got Lost Little Unicorn book from Papa and Beth, which we have been reading often since Christmas morning.

Kirsten bought Daddy this cupcake candle for Christmas.

Aunt Emily gave the girls The Last Unicorn DVD, and we have watched it everyday since Christmas.

Kirsten got Corduroy Lost and Found  from Mommy and Daddy.

When Reagan opened her Chase figurine from Kirsten, she mauled Kirsten with the biggest hug ever.  They rolled around on the floor for at least a minute.

Reagan got A Pocket for Corduroy from Mommy and Daddy.

The girls got a My Little Pony playset from Aunt Bonny and Uncle David.

Reagan is wearing her shirt from Papa and Beth on her head.

A mermaid tail blanket from Papa and Beth

Once again our families were so generous with us for Christmas!  I didn't get pictures of the girls with every gift apparently, but they also loved the Winnie the Pooh hand puppets from Mimzy, and we have been reading Winnie the Pooh a lot more since Christmas.

Matt and Jake took the girls out sledding in the late morning while I napped.  Unfortunately, I caught a cold for Christmas--along with Brian and Norma.  Then we gave it to Matt and Grampa.  Everyone else seems to have bypassed the yucky cold.  It was good to get some rest, so that I could lead the music in Sacrament meeting that afternoon and enjoy the rest of our Christmas celebration.

The choir sang beautifully for Christmas.  I was so pleased and grateful to be the director of such fine music.  I've found it's inevitable that the week before Christmas our practice is pretty horrible.  All the choir members start thinking we need extra practice, and for the first two years I thought we did too.  Then one year I realized that it always comes together for Christmas.  Always.  I've never been displeased with the way they sing or the way I conduct when our Christmas performance comes around.  I'm sure that God adds choirs of angels when we sing.

It was also really nice because my parents, Michael, Brian, Norma, William, Sierra, Jake, and Norma's mom, Evelyn, all came to our Sacrament meeting.  I loved having as much family together as possible at Church on Christmas Day.  It felt just right.

After Sacrament Meeting, we went to my parents' house for Christmas Day dinner. We ate yummy steak, corn casserole, cheesy potato casserole, and fruit.

Wearing our Christmas crowns

My mom pulled out this potholder that we made together long ago.

The girls were begging us to pull them on this blanket.  No one obliged.

 Then we opened more Christmas presents.

My parents made the girls these My Little Pony blankets.

Brian and Norma gave Reagan Speckles the Frog.

And Kirsten got Grapes the Monkey

Kirsten gave Nana and Grampa these angels

 Then we went back to our house for our traditional Christmas program where everyone shares something Christmas-y with the family.

Reagan sang "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer"

Kirsten sang "Jingle Bells"

Evelyn read a book of "Away in a Manger"

Sierra read "The Night Before Christmas"

Brian pretended to be a Wise Man

My parents danced to "Frosty the Snowman"

 The next day Matt, the girls, and my mom went sledding.  I came along to take pictures and cheer everyone on.

Two days ago we went to our friend Jennie's house to play.  We haven't been able to see them since school started, and Jennie is probably my best friend.  Our kids love each other.  So, it was so good to see them again.

The next day I took the girls to the play place at the Orem Mall, and guess who was there?  Jennie and her kids!  We got to see them two days in a row.  It was so much fun!

Reagan playing with Speckles at the mall.

All the kiddos playing together

Looking back on all the pictures, I was able to forget about all the stupid stressors that popped up this month and truly focus on the joy of family and the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Moab

The weekend before Thanksgiving Reagan came down with a fever.  I was grateful that she started feeling better by the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but unfortunately, Kirsten started feeling sick that day.  The virus manifested itself differently in Kirsten than in Reagan.  She didn't get a fever, but she did lose her voice, which seemed to be frustrating to her.  Other than losing her voice and tiring easily, she seemed fine though.

On Thursday we went over to my brother Brian's for Thanksgiving dinner.  We celebrated with his family, which included Brian, Norma, and their children William and Sierra.  Norma's mom, Evelyn, came, too.  She is always so delightful to be around.  I find her stories so interesting.  Norma's brother Ross, his wife Cyleste, and their children Leah, Corban, and Paige were there, too.

We enjoyed a yummy meal, of which our children ate very little.  Unfortunately, I have to admit that our girls are pretty picky eaters.  Reagan even struggled to eat a roll.  Good grief!  She was very excited about getting to eat pumpkin pie though.  So, she forced herself to eat her roll and her ham, so that she could eat dessert.  Kirsten almost managed to eat the bare minimum required to earn dessert, but she decided to leave one bite of her roll.  She actually liked the roll, but she's never had that much of a sweet tooth unless dessert includes fruit snacks.  She was just fine without pumpkin pie.

Regardless, Matt and I enjoyed the meal.  Afterward, we talked for a couple of hours and played a game.  I always enjoy talking to my brother and Norma.  The kids played downstairs and outside.  They were so happy to be with their cousins.

A couple weeks before Thanksgiving Matt and I made a plan to take our family down to  Moab on Black Friday.  With Kirsten losing her voice, we almost cancelled the trip, but she was so disappointed, as were all of the rest us, that we decided we would go anyway.  We had the intention of taking it easy, which I guess we did in some ways, but, honestly, we aren't very good at that.  Fortunately, we all survived and can look back on our little trip with fondness.

One way in which we did manage to take it easy was by not waking up super early to maximize every last minute of the day.  We left the house a little after nine, which seemed reasonable.  After driving for about three hours, we arrived at Arches National Park, which is just outside Moab.  We ate a picnic lunch at the visitors' center and went to the bathroom.  While we were going to the bathroom, Kirsten complained in true Ehle/Roberts style, "You want to waste our fun time going to the bathroom?!"  Yes, yes, my dear Kirsten, I did want to waste our time taking care of that very important necessity.  Sweet girl!

At the visitors' center

At the visitors' center

Then we went hiking.  Initially, we were planning on hiking to Delicate Arch, but with Kirsten feeling sick, me being pregnant, Matt being sore from a rough game of flag football, and Reagan being three, I thought it would be better to do a hike that's not listed as strenuous.  So, we hiked to Sandstone Arch and Broken Arch.  The hike was about a mile and a half total, and it was relatively flat, which was nice.

Matt and the girls at Sandstone Arch

The girls at the foot of Broken Arch.  It was hard to get a good picture of the Arch, but for the record, it is less broken than you might imagine given the name.

After our first hike, both girls said they were too tired to hike anymore, but Matt and I didn't know what else to do in Arches.  So, we convinced them that we should hike to Landscape Arch, Pine Tree Arch, and Tunnel Arch, which was another mile and a half.  I think both girls were pleased that we did the second hike.  They even ran part of the way.  Landscape Arch is breathtaking.

During the hike Daddy was so silly.  He kept worrying that it would get dark before we got back to the car.  So, he strongly encouraged us to hurry up by telling the girls that the coyotes would come out and get them.  Then we ended up talking about all sorts of different wild animals and what to do if you come across them in the wilderness.  In the end, the only wild animal we actually came across was a cottontail bunny, and Kirsten suggested that Daddy should shoot it.  Fortunately, he opted not to do that.

Me and the girls at Tunnel Arch

Me and the girls at Pine Tree Arch

Me and the girls hiking toward Landscape Arch

Landscape Arch

Our family at Landscape Arch

Our girls with a neat tree

After our last hike, we drove out of Arches and went to Susie's Branding Iron Restaurant in Moab.  The restaurant was great.  Everyone found something they liked to eat on the menu, which means that the "Young Buckaroos Menu" included Mac and Cheese.  I ate a Swiss Burger, and I can't remember what Matt had--something with steak.  We all left very satisfied, and then we went to check in at our hotel.

We stayed at the Rodeway Inn, which looks quite nice from the outside, but isn't quite as nice as some of the hotels Matt's dad has treated us to lately.  I'm afraid we've become a bit entitled.  I should correct myself, the girls thought our hotel was perfect, but I was a bit concerned about how the smoke detector was hanging from the ceiling.  The wet spot on the carpet made me a bit nervous, too.  At any rate, it was nice enough.  Matt and I shared a king sized bed, and Kirsten and Reagan shared a queen sized bed.

The girls were in bed by seven, which was way too early for me and Matt to go to sleep.  So, we turned on the TV with the hope that they would fall asleep watching Despicable Me.  Our plan ended up backfiring because they were too interested in the movie to fall asleep.  So, we ended up turning the lights out after the movie was over at nine o'clock.  9:00 was still way too early for me, but unfortunately, it was way too late for the girls.  They ended up being pretty sleepy the next day.

Breakfast at Denny's the next morning was hilariously ridiculous.  It was so busy.  So, we didn't end up getting our food for about 45 minutes.  Everyone was ravenous.  Then, when we finally got our food, Kirsten spilled a bit of yogurt on her eggs, which caused her to burst into inconsolable tears.  Reagan tried to comfort her by putting some yogurt on her own eggs, but nothing anyone could say brought her any relief from the horror of having yogurt touch her eggs.  After a good five minutes of her crying, the man in the neighboring booth started laughing.  I actually think he was trying to help because he seemed really friendly, but unfortunately, being laughed at doesn't make Kirsten feel embarrassed enough to stop her behavior.  If anything, his laughter exacerbated the situation for her, but it was welcome relief for her parents.  Good grief!  We were all so hungry that we didn't even think of taking her out of the situation to help her calm down.  All I could think was that I needed to eat my food as quickly as possible.  In the end, I think Kirsten ended up eating all of her food because she was starving, too.  And, no, we were not going to buy her more eggs.

After breakfast, we decided that more hiking was not an option.  Imagine that!  So, we went to The Moab Giants, which is a dinosaur museum.  Our tickets included a 3D movie, which was neat since the girls had never seen a 3D movie before.  There was also a 5D paleo-aquarium.  We went into a room that was set up like an aquarium, but instead of having actual fish in fish tanks, there were various movie screens set up to look like fish tanks.  Each "tank" had a different prehistoric marine animal.  The last one had a giant shark, and they made it look like the shark was breaking the glass.  When the shark would hit against the glass, the floor would shake and water sprayed at us out of the ceiling.  All four of us said that was our favorite part of the dinosaur museum.  It was scary, but fun!

The museum also had some fossil exhibits inside, and outside there was a Dinosaur trail with life-sized versions of dinosaurs.  Unfortunately, the girls didn't get maximum enjoyment out of the Dinosaur trail since they were pretty tired, but despite the exhaustion, they loved the dinosaur dig out area.

At the excavation site.  Reagan was so excited to find fossils!

With a T-Rex

After finishing at the museum around 2 o'clock, we got in the car and headed home.  We got home around dinner time, which was perfect.  We ate left over Thanksgiving dinner and gave the girls baths before bed.

Despite all of the activity, Kirsten managed to get better and was back in school on Tuesday.  All's well that ends well, right?

Halloween

A couple of days before Halloween we went to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch one more time with Daddy.  It was his first visit during the entire month of October!  He had been so busy with work and other obligations that he hadn't been able to make it to the pumpkin patch, and he was feeling kind of sad about that.  Of course, we were happy to go again!  We finally picked out our jack-o-lantern pumpkins.  So that was very exciting too.

The girls with the Corn Monster.

Jumping on Daddy in the corn pit

Climbing the haystack with Daddy

 That evening we went to our church Halloween party.  We had a chili dinner, games for the kids, and a trunk-or-treat.  The girls got a lot of candy.  Kirsten dressed up as Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony, and Reagan was Everest from Paw Patrol.  I thought they were adorable.

Spending time with their friend Gracie

Fun Halloween masks

Reagan wanted to get her face painted.

I think it's supposed to be a bunny.

 On the last Sunday in October, Kirsten participated in the Primary Program at Church.  I could tell she was nervous because she chewed on her necklace or her fingers nearly the whole time.  Poor girl!  However, she did take her fingers out of her mouth when she said her part at the pulpit.  I was proud of how clearly she said, "My favorite scripture hero is Moses because he parted the Red Sea."  She's a cute girl.

That evening my dad came over for dinner and helped us carve our pumpkins.  My mom was out of town, which was a bummer, but I like to see how the girls interact with my dad more when she's not around.  I think my dad likes that too--not that we don't like having my mom around.  It's just fun to see the different dynamic.

Kirsten drew these faces.

Reagan drew this face with a little help from me.

Grampa doing a spooky Halloween scare!

A more serious pose with Daddy

That evening Matt suggested that we watch Ghostbusters.  I was not a big fan of the idea since I figured our kids would be terrified, but I agreed since I also figured that they wouldn't be interested past the first few minutes.  After all, they had never watched a show that wasn't a cartoon before.  Well, they proved me wrong.  Kirsten loved it and watched the entire thing, though Matt did fast forward through some of the more sexual scenes.  Reagan watched it for about 45 minutes before she decided that it was too scary.  Then I helped her get ready for bed and read a book in her room until she fell asleep.  It was actually pretty peaceful to sit with her.

On Halloween I volunteered in Kirsten's classroom and helped with one of the Halloween games that the Kindergarteners played.  Then they did a costume parade out on the playground for all of the parents.  It was fun to get to see Kirsten at school in her costume.

Kirsten in the costume parade

In the evening, my mom joined us to go trick-or-treating.  It was neat to get to go from house to house until we arrived at Nana and Grampa's house.  I could tell my dad was having a good time handing out candy.  He would answer the door with a "Boo," give the kids a treat, and then tell them that he also had a trick for them.  Then their dog Mason would come out and dance for the kids.  I think, Mason enjoyed himself, too.

At the end of my parents' street there was a food truck handing out free brisket sandwiches, and that is where I ate most of my dinner.  The girls had filled up on candy even before they went trick-or-treating.  Oy vey!

After that, we went over to another neighbor's house who had staged a very elaborate spook alley.  Matt had helped him with the spook alley and spent most of his Halloween evening dressed as a scary pig man with a chain saw.  Our girls were terrified!  However, they were intrigued to find out that their daddy was the scary pig man.

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating

Trick-or-treating with Nana

On Halloween and the day after, we pretty much let the girls gorge on candy, but then we told them about the Halloween Fairy.  If you haven't heard of the Halloween Fairy before, I'll have you know that my little girls now think she is the best.  The night after Halloween you can leave your candy on the front porch--all except 10 pieces--and she'll leave you a toy to find in the morning!  Our girls chose to leave their candy for the Halloween Fairy, and they both got a set of 10 My Little Pony figurines.  They were so happy!  And Mommy and Daddy were happy that we didn't have to deal with the candy for another day.  What a relief!  They could have been gorging on candy for weeks.