cHrIsTmAs....OFFICIALLY over at our house!!

Ok, so my most very favorite thing about Christmas is putting up the decorations!!!! I think my second most favorite thing about Christmas is TAKING THEM DOWN!!! So tonight after all of the festivites, Jeremiah's family went to the movies! Jeremiah and I stayed behind to put Ayden to bed! I got this idea and asked everyone....is it a sin to take down Christmas decorations on Christmas night?!?!?! I have NEVER done this before and I usually even struggle to get them down on January 1st! But this year, I am SO over it!!! I just wanted my house back to normal (maybe it was the clutter of all of Ayden's new toys that was getting to me)!! Anyway....I DID IT!! Tonight, when everyone was at the movies, I took down the tree and EVERY decoration! There is not a sign of Christmas in my house right now (well, except for the Christmas music that we are listening to right now)!! =) I couldn't fully give it up!! And I am not ready for Christmas to be over, I am just so ready for the decorations to be put away and my house to be back in order! And I must say...it is a GREAT feeling!! I'm sure it will feel even better tomorrow morning when I wake up and don't have to worry about the stress of putting everything away! I might have to make this a new tradition because it does feel pretty good at the moment!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day!!

Hmmm...what should I hammer next?!?!? I love my new work bench!!


Check out my knee and elbow pads!! I love my new scooter!!


Choo-Choo!!!! I love my new train set!!


Ayden's new Christmas Jammies!! Too bad I couldn't wear them on Christmas morning since I threw up all over them on Christmas Eve!! =(

mErRy ChRiStMaS!!!

I can't believe that Christmas has already come and gone! I hope everyone had a good one...I know we did! This was our first year here that we didn't go back to Cali for Christmas. It felt pretty strange to not spend Christmas Eve with my family like we always do! We were able to "hang out" with them on the webcam, so that was nice and really made it feel like we were all just sitting in the same room on Christmas Eve! It made it at least feel like we were together!

I must say that Christmas Eve brings on a whole new meaning when you become a parent! I never realized how much fun my parents probably had getting ready for Christmas morning and recreating the family room to show that Santa had visited! Since Ayden is still young enough, we had a lot of work already done....we have had presents under the tree that said To: Ayden From: Santa. So all we had to do was pull those out and put together a couple toys that we wanted Ayden to see when he walked down the stairs! It was so much fun getting ready for Christmas morning and filling all of our stockings!

We didn't go to bed until almost 1 am and as soon as we got in bed, Ayden woke up!! That was the beginning of his throwing up marathon that lasted until 4 am!! I know...you are thinking "is this kid ever NOT sick!??!!?!?!?" It was awful...we were EXHAUSTED and it is always so sad to see your baby SO sick and miserable!! Luckily, that was the end of it and Christmas day he was fine!

Seeing Ayden's face when he came down the stairs and turned the corner into the family room was priceless!! As soon as he saw the train set on display he said, "Oh Boy" and ran over to start figuring out how it worked! It was so cute!!

Jeremiah's family was at our house for Christmas day! We had brunch, opened all of our presents and then had dinner! I truly felt so spoiled this Christmas...Jeremiah got EVERYTHING on my Christmas list! We set a limit, but he went way over!! And Ayden definitely got WAY MORE toys than he really needed!! A couple of his favorites were his vacuum cleaner that he got from Uncle Joe, Aunt Cara, Cooper and Carter, his workbench and tools from my parents, his scooter from Jeremiah's parents and his GeoTrax train set from Santa!! Oh boy...what a day with so many fun things!! It was so cute seeing him open his presents. He was so meticulous about getting EVERY piece of wrapping paper off the package before he could even look at or notice the toy that was right in front of his face. Then, he would bring the package to us, grunt and stuff it in our face. When we asked him if he wanted us to open it, he got a huge smile on his face and said "yeah yeah"! It was hilarious! He then wanted to play with that toy for a while before opening the next one! After he was all done, our house looked like it was in the center of Toys R Us!! He loved everything and had to be overwhelmed!! It was a great Christmas and we enjoyed every bit of it! With the exception of missing my family, it was perfect!

FeVeRs, FaLsE aLaRmS & FiRe TrUcKs!!

Here is a what a little birdie saw when he looked into the window of the Smith house last night!!!!

7:00 pm -Ayden went to bed....he tried to wait up for Daddy to get home since he has been gone for work for 2 days...he didn't last!

8:50 pm - Jeremiah FINALLY gets home....sits down on the couch talking about how tired he is, how much sleep he DIDN't get the last 2 days and how hungry he was!

9:00 pm - Ayden must have known that his Dad got home because he started crying in his room. Since he has been sick with a fever for 2 days I got him up and thought he would be "all better" when he saw Jeremiah!

9:05 pm - Ayden is burning up...104 fever!! He tried to be excited to see Jeremiah and fell into his arms putting his head on his shoulder, but couldn't even crack a smile.

9:10 pm - Tried giving Ayden the very last drop of what was left of the Children's Motrin...he gagged and threw it all up....right in Jeremiah's hand! WeLcOmE HoMe DaDdy!!

9:15 pm - We give him some Tylenol and the carbon monoxide detectors start beeping throughout the house (why do these things NEVER happen in the afternoon?!?!?!)!!! Jeremiah tries to figure out why they are going off (takes out the batteries, etc.) and nothing stops them!!

9:25 pm - Our renter comes upstairs to tell us her carbon monoxide detectors are going off too! Great, now we have carbon monoxide filling all three levels of the house!! At this point, Ayden is still awake and getting more and more irritable (as we all are) by the annoying beep, beep, beep, beep that goes off every 7 seconds!!! ANNOYING!!!!

9:45 pm - The Tylenol is not working and Ayden is still BURNING UP!! Jeremiah decides to go to Smith's to get more Motrin and enough batteries to replace all the smoke detectors in the house. He actually ran into the Saratoga Springs firefighters who were also shopping at Smith's and told them what was going on. They recommended changing all the batteries and calling them if that didn't work!

Meanwhile, at home, Ayden has been freaking out since Jeremiah walked out the door. He is laying on the floor in front of the garage door waiting for him to get back.

10:00 pm - Almost $40 later, Jeremiah FINALLY gets home and replaces EVERY battery in the house.....and guess what???? THE DARN BEEPING NOISE IS STILL FILLING THE HOUSE!!! Now we are ALL starting to get annoyed! And I am actually starting to get a little worried wondering if there actually IS carbon monoxide filling our house! I am starting to feel a little light headed!

10:10 pm - Jeremiah calls the fire department (he didn't have to explain much since they remembered seeing him at Smith's 30 minutes earlier). They said they were on their way and instructed us to get out of the house and go to the neighbors house!!

10:15 pm - We put the dogs in the car in the garage and we all head next door to the Bargerons and luckily they were still awake...at a time like this, it is nice to be friends with your neighbors!! =) We watch out the window....waiting....

10:25 pm - Here it comes....down the street....a fire truck, an ambulance AND a police car!!! All 3 vehicles filled our little cul-de-sac!! Jeremiah goes out in the snow to talk to them as Ayden and I watch at the window as the firefighters put their tanks on their backs and masks over their face!! Are you serious!?!?!? They are going into my house with masks on!!!

10:55 pm - They finally come out and say they couldn't find any trace of carbon monoxide....phew...it was a FALSE ALARM!!! They had to take the smoke detectors out in the cold air to make it stop beeping! And finally we were able to go back home and Ayden's fever had finally dropped!!

What a night!! I know this was a LONG story that could've ben told a LOT shorter, but as things kept happening, the night was becoming more and more humorous and I had to share EVERY detail!! At least Ayden got a kick out of seeing the fire truck outside our house! And poor Jeremiah....to say he was tired now would be a MAJOR understatement!! I told him that's what he gets when he leaves us for 2 days!! Who knows what will happen the next time he has to go out of town!!

TRAX and Temple Square

Tonight we went to Gateway for dinner and then Temple Square to see the Christmas lights for family night. After eating, Jeremiah had the genius idea to walk to the TRAX to take us to Temple Square. Now this was only about a 1/4 mile walk...which would've been very pleasant on a warm, summer night. However, with it being about 20 degrees at the most tonight, I must say we didn't have the most pleasant time. Ayden was miserable before we even arrived at the temple because he was so FROZEN!!!! He did get a little recharged and was excited for a second to take his first ride on the TRAX. But as soon as we stepped outside again, he was grumpy! I can't blame him because I was freezing too! But what did we expect driving to Salt Lake to walk around outside in the middle of winter!?!?!?! Although we were all freezing, it was still a beautiful site to see....sooo many lights!!! I think we will start making this a family tradition of ours, but next year we will try to park closer and come on a night that is not so cold!

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It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas....

and I am SO loving it!!! I am officially finished with shopping, wrapping and shipping....and I can't wait to enjoy this week. I think this is a first for me. I am usually one that waits until the last minute to sometimes shop and always wrap presents! Maybe it is because this is the first year that we are not going to Cali for Christmas...every other year, we have to go there with unwrapped presents to get through security!! As I was walking by the living room tonight, I was shocked at how many presents are under our tree. They are packed under, behind, on the sides, in front.....EVERYWHERE!! We are running out of room in the living room and we still need to find room for another package from my parents and any gifts that Jeremiah's parents bring when they come out next weekend!! I think this is the most presents that we have ever had under our tree....I guess we were really good this year!!! Actually, Ayden must have been really good this year because most of the presents are for him. Anyway, I am really looking forward to enjoying this week and as soon as I get my Christmas cards in the mail tomorrow, I will be stress free and ready to enjoy Christmas!

Today we let Ayden do a gingerbread house....who am I kidding....Jeremiah and I did the gingerbread house. Ayden pretty much ate all the candy. He was in heaven!!! Each piece that we put on, he would take off and eat or throw on the ground. Needless to say, we didn't get much done on it and finally took the house and candy to the neighbors (I couldn't wait to get it out of the house) to finish instead of throwing it out. We had a mess afterwards, but Ayden enjoyed helping cleaning up all of the candy that fell to the floor!! It was fun, but I am looking forward to spending the day cleaning the house tomorrow!

This is my favorite time of year and I wish it would last all year! I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner! At least I know this week when most people are scrambling around doing last minute things, I will be admiring my tree, anticipating seeing Ayden open all his presents, being grateful that our gingerbread house craft is complete and pigging out on the second half of my favorite Christmas cookies (snowballs) that I made today! Hopefully all the running around and getting things done last week will burn off the calories I will be consuming with these cookies this week!! Mmmm....Mmmmm.... Mmmmm....I better go grab another cookie! =)

sAnTa ViSiT....take 2!

Today was visit #2 with Santa. Ayden and I had been talking all day about how we were going to go visit Santa again. I kept asking him and asking him if he wanted to go see Santa and each time he said "Ya, Ya, Ya"!! And as we walked through the mall and got closer and closer to Santa, Ayden got more and more excited! He was so giddy! We definitely had a much better experience this time because there was no line at all...we walked right up! And this time I decided to pay the $15 for the professional pic (not that I will do anything with the pics, just wanted it for a keepsake). That is when all of the fun ended! As soon as Ayden was face-to-face with Santa, he freaked out! He was crying hysterically!! Santa offered him candy....still hysterical and didn't even grab for the candy! I put Ayden on his lap, even though he was trying to hang on to me for dear life. This was probably a mean thing for me to do since he was so traumatized, but I just had to get that good picture!! Well, he was not too happy, so they offered to have him ride the horsey (his favorite animal). He wanted NOTHING to do with that horse!! He cried harder and grabbed on to me even tighter. So this is the best picture we could get! Not the greatest...but I love that it shows how he felt about the whole experience! We left and we were all happy....Mom had her keepsake picture and Ayden had his candy cane! I gave him the whole thing and let him get as messy and sticky as he wanted for being such a good sport! Hopefully next year Ayden and Santa can become friends!

Santa is NOT Ayden's Best Friend!

So yesterday we braved the mall and decided to take Ayden to see Santa! Granted, it was a Saturday...a couple weeks before Christmas...but we figured that with it snowing like crazy people would stay inside! Were we wrong!! It was snowing like crazy, so people went to the mall! We had an appointment to get Ayden's pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids (which I usually hate, but wanted some cheesy Christmas photos for the scrapbook). They were running an hour behind, so we decided to go see Santa since Ayden was all dressed up for his pics! We were talking it up to Ayden the entire time that we were waiting in line...trying to get him excited about Santa. He acted very excited and kept saying "ho ho". But I just knew that we might have problems getting a good picture with him sitting on Santa's lap. The last couple weeks, the separation anxiety has really hit in our house and Ayden does not like to be without his Mommy and Daddy! As we got closer to the front of the line, it was time to pay and pick which package we wanted. Now I think these packages are a total ripoff, so we decided to not purchase one. Luckily we brought our own camera and we were ready to capture this special moment. Sure enough...after an hour in line, Ayden cried and wanted NOTHING to do with Santa!! He didn't even want the candy cane that Santa was trying to give him (and he NEVER passes up candy)!! And we did get a couple pictures, but they all turned out blurry for some reason! I usually love our camera, but was so mad after that yesterday! Now I have to go back sometime and put Ayden through the torture of sitting on Santa's lap again...just so I can have a picture of the event! I sure did learn a couple lessons yesterday....

1. NEVER go to the mall on a Saturday in December!
2. NEVER go to see Santa on a Saturday!!
3. ALWAYS pay the ridiculous amount for pictures with Santa because you never know...your own camera might poop out!!
4. NEVER take Jeremiah to the mall on a Saturday in December...he just may act like a BIG BABY and throw a complete fit about HAVING to WAIT!!!
5. ALWAYS plan on Kiddie Kandids being behind schedule and NEVER show up to your appointment on time because you will have to wait anyway!

Although we didn't have the best experience at the mall, we did get a couple very cute shots of Ayden for Christmas! Seeing his cute little face smiling at the camera and having so much fun made the whole day worth the trouble!!

sNoW, SnOw, sNoW!!!

We finally got our first real snow!! Today we got Ayden all bundled up in his new coat and his new snow boots! He looked like Ralphy with his arms straight out and he could hardly walk in his new boots! This was his first real encounter with the snow since last year he was too young to enjoy it! At first, he just stood there in the snow...not moving...with a look on his face that said "what is the point of being out here in the cold standing in the middle of all this white stuff??" After seeing his dad throwing snowballs at neighbors, he started to get the drift! He picked up snowballs and threw them as hard as he could! He thought he was so funny when he smashed snowball after snowball on his little girlfriend next door. I'm sure it won't be long before he realizes that is NOT the way to get a girl to like you! =) It took him a few minutes to get used to the cold stuff, but then he was having the time of his life. In fact, he threw a major tantrum when we came in the house...he could've been out there forever!

I have really been dreading the winter this year...this is our 4th winter here and I guess the novelty is just wearing off. In fact, I have thought a few times in the last couple months that I would give anything to be back in Cali to not have to deal with the snow! But after today, I am really glad to be here. It was so cute to see Ayden so happy and having so much fun! Granted, it is only the first week of December...ask me again how I feel when March comes around and we still have snow!!!! And I'm sure getting Ayden bundled up with layer after layer and dealing with the tantrums when we come in the house will get old. But for today it was wonderful...and I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Poor Emma!!

Here is Ayden smashing snowballs on his girlfriend....he thought he was SO funny!!!