Christmas Day in the Morning

We were so busy enjoying our morning, that we don't have a lot of photographic evidence of the proceedings.  That's probably a good thing though.  It means we were all happy and busy with giving and receiving.  It was a nice Christmas this year.  Santa found all three girls names on the "nice" list, and brought them what they asked for.  (Except maybe Avery, who is still holding out hope for a new phone...at least she can understands Santa's reasoning for waiting a little longer...)

This year, Parker has understood so much more about Christmas.  She has been so observant and interested in the stories and traditions.  In particular, she was so obsessed with the concept of all the children being on Santa's "Nice" or "Naughty" list.  It definitely doesn't help that she has older sisters who are constantly holding this guilt trip over her head when she misbehaves.  "Do you want to be on the Nice list, Parker?"  "Santa's going to put you on the Naughty list, is that what you really want, huh, huh?!?"  It caused her a bit of fear and panic, I'm afraid.  But that's the role of youngest in the family in many ways, I think. 

We have a stuffed reindeer that was actually given to us by an elf when Maryn was a baby (I'm not even kidding) at a store in Boise where we went to talk to Santa one year.  Ever since, we've used the same idea as the "Elf on a Shelf" with our little stuffed reindeer.  He was given to us by one of Santa's elves to watch the girls as Christmas approaches and will occasionally move around the house in order to get a good view, and report his findings.  So, needless to say, Parker has definitely been aware of Mr. Reindeer this year.  It was cute.

She asked Santa for a Belle doll, and some new Tag books. 

Maryn asked Santa for a Harry Potter Snuggy.  She is finally officially in the House of GRIFFINDOR!  Haha!  Also, if you know Maryn, you know she is always cold, so this is pretty much her dream come true!

As you can see, Avery is too busy reading one of her new books to even smile for the camera.

We are grateful that everyone was happy, and that we can enjoy another Christmas as a family.  We have plenty of blessings and gifts to be thankful for this year.  Many of which include my sweet family and friends.  I miss you all and love you, and hope your holidays were filled with lots of warmth and cheer!! 

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Eve was spent at home this year. We set a fancy Christmas table using the "Sheffield" china this year.  We made our annual Christmas Ham dinner with cheesy potato casserole, green beans, rolls, and a jello salad.  We had chocolate cream pie for dessert.

After dinner, we usually have our program.  This year we watched a Christmas DVD about Christ's birth, set to music sung by MoTab.  After that, we read the story from Luke while the girls put pieces of the Nativity on a flannel board.  After the "spiritual" part, we always read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and put reindeer food out on the front lawn (equal parts oatmeal, sprinkles, and sparkles).  We lay out a plate of cookies and a mug of milk for Santa, and then the girls open their jammies from Grandma and Grandpa, and we get ready for bed!!  It's nothing fancy, but it's become something that we all enjoy each year.

I loved Parker's reaction to her Princess jammies this year...she was absolutely "in love" with them. 

We wish you a very Merry Christmas, and an even Happier New Year!!

Peace out Christmas Peeps!!  I don't think these girls are falling asleep anytime soon!!

Christmas Cuties

Christmas Sunday is always a fun tradition of dressing up the girls and taking a picture of them in their outfits.  I always enjoy the program at Church the Sunday before Christmas.  Plenty of music, great speakers, and a special spirit always make it a memorable time.  This year is especially fun because we are celebrating our first Christmas in Midland, and trying to make some new traditions, along with our older ones.

We are getting excited for Christmas to come!!

The Honeymoon, In Celebration of #15

Have I told you guys this one yet?!?  If you are a member of my family and are reading this, then the answer is probably yes.  If you are not a family member, but you had the pleasure of laughing hysterically over our poor, pathetic honeymoon mishaps of yesteryear, then you're welcome.  It's an oldie, but a goody.  If you answered no to all of the above, then buckle up!  You're in for one heck of a story, folks!

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Our honeymoon plans had been to rent a little cabin in Island Park (which is north of Rexburg, but not as far as West Yellowstone.)  We found a rental called the "Romeo and Juliet Suite".  Sounded perfect, right?

Well apparently the owner of "Romeo and Juliet" had called Dennis earlier in the day to let him know that the pipes had burst in the little cabin because of the frigid temps, and there was no heat at all.  Resort to Plan B.  We got a honeymoon suite at the Best Western in Idaho Falls the night of our wedding which bought ourselves some time to organize something else for the rest of our honeymoon.  Mark's best man, Tony told us about some cabins in West Yellowstone that he and his wife had stayed in for their anniversary.  It was called, "The Hibernation Station".  Sounded cute, and we both love Yellowstone, so we went for it!!  Once again, our youth and our naivety not cautioning us of the potential hazards of going further north into the forests of Wyoming during one of the coldest, snowiest seasons of the year.

We arrived at the Best Western late that evening, and were greeted by an interesting fellow at the main desk.  He was a younger guy who was clearly very frazzled, and looked like he hadn't slept in days.  He informed us that his wife had been in labor with their first child the previous night, and day; and that the labor was now going into the current evening.  He was wiped out, and very distracted.  He showed us to our room, and disappeared.  We noticed that some of the "honeymoon items" in the suite were missing, and had been "used"...before you get any ideas what I mean was there were supposed to be chocolates and bubble bath and clearly some of the chocolates had been eaten, and the bottle of bubble bath was only half full. Not only that, but there weren't any flowers that was supposed to have been included in the package.  May not seem like a big deal, but it was just kind of tacky in my opinion.  We called frazzled desk clerk about our findings to ask him if he could correct the problem, which he did quickly and graciously.  On his way out, he let us know that he might not be there the entire night because if he got the call, he would basically just bolt and leave the place unattended.  Sweet!  We had a good laugh about that dude for a long time after that.  Surely, WE will never be like HIM when we have a baby! Haha!  (P.S. Don't ever say stuff like that...it's like jinxing yourself times a million.)

The next day, we got all our plans set to venture north to West Yellowstone.  It was really cold, and still snowing but we perservered anyway.  We arrived to check in, and they put us in lucky Cabin #13!!  Awesome, don't they always skip that number when building hotels and high rises specifically for this reason?!?  Anyway, we got into the cabin and immediately noticed that it was freezing!  We turned on the heater, and expected things to start thawing out.  Nope, not so much.  We called the front desk and they sent down a handy-man dressed in a snowsuit with a frosted beard.  He showed us how to turn on the gas fireplace.  Phew, now things could finally warm up!  Nope, not so much.  We decided to leave to get dinner, and go see a movie at the IMAX.  By the time we got back, we hoped it would be warm.  Nope, not so much.  We called the front desk, and they brought us a space heater the size of a shoe box.  We pointed it at our feet since they were now solid blocks of ice.  Not really effective.  I remember sitting there watching a movie in our winter coats, boots, gloves, etc., and I could see my own breath.  I could also feel the arctic winds whipping through the cracks in the doorways and windows.  Because it was a log cabin, I could even detect glimmers of light and the white of the snow outside through the cracks between the logs!!  We used some of the extra blankets to jam the door cracks.  We also used the cushions from the couch to jam the windows.  With nothing but the little heat from the gas fireplace, and that crappy little space heater, I seriously thought we were going to die.  The newspaper would read, "Newlyweds found frozen to death in lucky Cabin #13 at the Hibernation Station...so young, so tragic."

Now since it was our honeymoon, I don't have to tell you that we found other ways to keep warm.  So I won't!  Needless to say about half way through the night, we discovered that the pipes had frozen.  The water in the toilet bowl was even frozen solid!  I looked at the thermostat and it was seriously negative 30!  I thought I was seeing things!  "Wait, where's the zero? And we're below it?!?"  We decided to bale the next morning.  We packed up our suitcases and little Ford Escort, and as we turned the key in the ignition the car wouldn't start.  Again, and again we tried coaxing it to turn over.  It too had frozen solid...the engine was completely ice cold!  We had to call a tow truck to come tow us to the hotel we were moving to which had a heated underground parking lot. Because our little Ford Escort's front end is completely made of plastic, there was nothing to attach the tow to...it wouldn't work!  So instead of towing the car, we had to PUSH the car 3 blocks down the street and let it coast down the incline into the garage.  We bundled up with the little winter clothing we had and put our shoulders to the wheel.  At that point, I looked at my new husband with a new found respect and love.  He had my pink scarf wrapped around his head to keep his ears warm, and was red-faced from pushing our car in feet deep of snow.  Every now and then he would slip, then get up, put his head down, gather his strength again, and PUSH!  Oh man, it was something else!

We finally arrived at the hotel, checked in, and proceeded to crank the heat to infinity.  Removing the layers of wet, frozen clothing we sunned our frozen bodies on the grate of the heater.  It felt like a million bucks.  After a few hours, we decided we should probably get something to eat, but when we hit the cold air again, we thought otherwise and stayed and ate in the hotel.  Haha!  The next morning, we decided we were done.  We packed everything up again, and decided to just go home.  We were feeling a little defeated, and quite frankly, cursed.  We decided to stop to buy ourselves a Christmas ornament to remind us of our honeymoon in hell.  By this time, our moods were low and we found ourselves wrapped up in our first official married "argument".
"Should we get the moose or the reindeer ornament?"
"I don't care, what do you want to get?"
"I don't care, would you just choose SOMETHING!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"

We drove back to Rexburg to gather some more of Mark's things from his house to take to our new basement apartment in Pocatello.  When we got there, Mark's Mom Laurie greeted the two of us looking like we'd just marched back from war.  She asked us how things went.  Mark said, "Man, do we have a story for you!"  Just as he said that, she replied, "weeeellll, have we got a story for you, too!"  Apparently, when my family and I had left our apartment, the last person out hadn't pulled the door completely shut.  They had had just as much snow and arctic winds in Pocatello as we had had up north.  The wind had blown the door the rest of the way open, and snow and cold had drifted into the doorway making it impossible to shut.  The apartment was in the basement of a little old couple's home.  Afton and Lyman Ball were our landlords.  They had interviewed us a month previously, and we had gotten to know them before moving in.  It turns out that Lyman had had a stroke earlier that year, and it had taken away his ability to speak.  He was also much more limited in his physcial capacities, so they needed tenants who could put a little extra effort into helping maintain the yard, etc.  Lyman was in speech therapy, but was self-conscious about the way he spoke so he would just write notes, or use nodding to communicate.  Apparently the day he discovered the door wide open with snow half way into the living room, he burst through his own front door to let Afton know, and actually spoke for the first time!!  He was able to speak one simple word..."DOOR!"  Afton ran around to the back of the house and discovered what had happened.  As a result of the door being left open for 4 days, the pipes had frozen part of their entire home's plumbing system.  The toilet in our apartment was frozen, and would need to be repaired before the entire system was affected.  Not only that, but the carpet was covered in snow!  They got ahold of Dennis, who was able to get ahold of Mark's uncle Roy (who lived in Pocatello).  Roy was on the scene within a short amount of time, and between he and Dennis had cleaned up and repaired the damage that was caused.  I think if it hadn't been for the 2 of them, Afton and Lyman would have kicked our sorry butts out.  I am still grateful for that.  After hearing this story, Mark and I were feeling even more cursed.  We drove the rest of the way to Pocatello, mostly in silence.  What are the odds?!?  It was day 4...what MORE could happen?!?  Wait, don't ask that question!!

We unpacked our car and our bags, made sure the door was shut tightly behind us, drew the curtains, turned up the heat, and literally didn't leave our apartment for the remaining 3 days of our honeymoon.  I think both of us were a little worried that the sky would fall on us, or we would get struck by lightening.  I'm pretty sure I saw a group of black cats sitting outside our window too.

When we finally emerged, it was to drive to SLC to board a flight for Detroit.  We were going there to have our Open House there after Christmas.  When we got there, everyone asked us, "How did the honeymoon go?!?"

"Man, have we got a story for you!!", we both said in unison.

And we've been laughing about it ever since.

The Story of the Day we Wed, In Celebraton of #15

In celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary, I've decided to chronicle the story of our wedding, and the hilarious story of our honeymoon.  To do justice to both of these stories, I am splitting them up into 2 parts.  That way, I don't have to miss any of the details...the good, the bad, the ugly, and the hilarious.  Hold onto your hats, this should give you a good laugh...or cry, as the case may be.

As a side note, this is also a gift to my handsome and hilarious groom, Mark.  I can't imagine spending 15 years with anyone else.  He makes me laugh every day.  He is my right hand man, the best Dad ever, and my best friend.  Thank you, thank you for hanging in there with me all these years. We've weathered some storms, and triumphed over successes.  It's all made for a life rich with experiences I cherish.  I look forward to many more years to come!

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We had a "Christmas" wedding.  Yes, that's right.  We were young and naive, and didn't know any better.  We thought that Christmas time would be the best time to celebrate our love, but little did we know that it's probably the least convenient and overly scheduled time of the year.  Little did we know that it would place tremendous burden on all of our family members to cram "one more thing" into the busiest month of the year.  Little did we know that it would become a day for years to come when we were so broke because of birthdays and Christmas, that we wouldn't really get to celebrate it properly, and we would sometimes wonder (and dream) about how having an anniversary in the spring or summertime felt like.  Yeah, that was us.  Most importantly though, little did we know that in Idaho December is a ridonkulously cold month of the year too.  This is where our story begins...

December 19th, 1998 dawned bright, sunny, and freaking freezing lo those fifteen years ago.  I was staying in a hotel in Rexburg with my parents and kid-sister, Erin.  She had agreed to do my "do" that morning before going to the Temple with my groom-to-be.  However, even after the trial run, my french twist just wasn't twisting properly, and took a lot longer than we expected.  She needed to stop and start getting herself ready, so my sympathetic Mother tried the best she could to twist it until she couldn't twist any more.  Needless to say, it wasn't the best hair day for me.  Because of this, I was running a little late in picking Mark up from his house for our appointment at the Temple.  I showed up not in the greatest mood.  He opened the door with a smile as big as Kansas to see his bride with an irritated look on her face.  (I'm sorry, Mark!)  His Mom was all a flutter inside, and quickly tried cheering me up so that I could be happy about the day anyway.  I tried to be a good sport, but I'm not sure how convincing I was.  We jumped in the car and took off for Idaho Falls.

When we arrived at the Temple that afternoon, we were joined by 34 other happy couples!!  Whoa!  What a day!  Each bride was assigned a temple worker to escort them through the ceremonies, but mine hadn't made it to work that day because of "bad weather".  We should've known at that point...something was brewing.  They tried to find me a replacement, but in the meantime sent me back to the bridal dressing room anyway.  When I got there, it was like one of those bridal shows on TLC.  Lots of white dresses, lots of hairspray and makeup, lots of bodies trying to be "helpful", and a whole heck of a lot of NERVES!!  I tried wrangling myself into my dress unassisted.  This is when it would have been helpful to have had that temple worker.  I wondered where she was...where my Mom was {outside the temple helping with grandkids}...I wondered where my sisters were {some had not arrived yet due to the weather}...I wondered where my roomates were {still en route from Logan because of the weather}.  Anyone, anyone out there?  Please?

My stress turned to emotion really fast.  Apparently I had put my dress on incorrectly, and had to change just moments before I was to meet Mark outside.  {His side of the story goes like this:  he sat quietly on a couch in the waiting room where he watched bride after bride exit the dressing room to their eager groom...and he waited, and he waited...once again, sorry Mark!}  I finally emerged, but once again, instead of my irritated look from the morning hair fiasco, this time I had tear-stained cheeks.  He comforted me the best he could, and we took a moment to just sit and collect ourselves.  That's when my temple worker replacement showed up!  She introduced herself, apologized for the confusion, and asked me, "so, do you have your groom's ring with you?"  THE RING!!  It was all I could do to get my dang dress on, they wanted me to remember the ring too!  I had left it in the bottom of my backpack back in the dressing room.  The same dressing room where 34 other brides had probably left similar looking backpacks.  Needless to say, our ceremony was a tad delayed while the worker went searching for a needle in a haystack.  Eventually the ring was retrieved from the depths of Mordor, and the show was ready to go on!

We were joined by our family in the most beautiful room of the Idaho Falls Temple that day.  As I entered and saw so many family members and friends whom I love so dearly, I was so touched and couldn't help but let the emotion overtake me.  Instead of being a beautifully composed bride, I was kind of a sniffling, cry baby.  The entire ceremony and the words spoken by our sealer were beautiful, and I remember feeling like the heavens opened up and smiled on Mark and I that day.  I could feel the presence of family members who had passed on pouring their love and blessings upon us.  I felt like our marriage was touched by God.  I knew that the promises we made that day to each other were being sealed in heaven, and we would be together forever.  I could glimpse into our future to see children being born into our family and that because of the covenants we were making that day they too would be sealed to us for eternity.  Okay, so it might've started out a little rough, but at this point...Best. Day. Ever!!

After the ceremony was over, we met our family and friends outside on the Temple grounds.  Mark's cousin Emily Sheffield was our photographer, and set to work taking beautiful pictures of us on our special day.  I had chosen my wedding dress because around the time of our wedding, the movie "Titanic" was out and I wanted to look like "Rose".  My dress was Rose to a tee.  I loved it, but it was short-sleeved, and it was made of flowy chiffon (not very insulating).  And basically I froze my patootie off outside that day.  Emily would throw my coat on me between shots, but my red nose and painful looking smile in some of the pics were evidence of the frigid Idaho temps that day.  What joy!!

After the pictures were taken, we went over to the Shilo Inn across the river from the Temple where Mark's parents hosted a wonderful wedding lunch.  Upon entering the Shilo Inn, we heard the whirring of heating fans all over the lobby where they were trying to dry out the carpets from a busted water pipe. It was so cold, that their pipes had burst the night before and flooded the main floor.  I don't know how, but they made it work anyway and the luncheon went on beautifully.  We were joined by even more family and friends, and it was a great time to get to relax and visit with everyone.  Later that evening, everyone would join back together at our Alma Mater, Ricks College, for our reception on campus.  Nearing the end of the lunch, I remember Mark's Dad announcing to everyone that they would need to park carefully because of snow-covered parking lots, and because the college was closed for the holidays they would need to walk a certain distance to get into the correct entrance.  Once again, we should've known...something was brewing.

We arrived for our reception early so I could get dressed in my wedding dress again.  Thankfully this time, my sister-in-law Mindy was there to help me.  She gave me a memorable little pep talk about the joys of marriage, and then I was off for more wedding photos.  This time, Mark's parents had hired a professional photographer to take our reception photos.  I have learned that "professional" just means they take a really long time.  By the time he was done, our guests were already arriving.  We went from pictures straight to our reception line.  It was great, don't get me wrong, but I was getting tired by this time.  It had been a really, long day.  I never did get to eat any of my reception food, and I barely got a piece of my own cake.  I didn't know that in Idaho, you are expected to stand in the reception line the entire length of the reception.  I still wish I had just sat down, ate something, and been able to visit with my family and friends a little while longer.  Anyway, it was lovely nevertheless.  It had been decorated so beautifully.  Christmas trees with white lights, white poinsettias, wreaths with white lights and burgundy bows, and our wedding cake was 3 tiers covered in white icing and decorated with piped snowflakes and real white poinsettias.  I loved it!!  There was even a cool punch bowl that was made with ice, and inside the punch bowl were burgundy and white flowers.  Mark's friend Tony called it the "punch bowl/ice dish of love".  What made me especially happy about my reception was the fact that it was at Ricks College too.  This is where Mark and I had met, and it just seemed right.  Towards the end of the evening, Mark's Dad took us aside to give us some news about our honeymoon plans.

Stay tuned for Part 2:  The Honeymoon Story...

The Newest Teenager in Town

That would be our very own Maryn Brown, folks!  It's official!  Read all about it! 

All she wanted for her 13th birthday was a trip to Birch Run (a huge outlet mall that is really close by), a pair of "Madden Girl" boots, her favorite dinner, and CHOCOLATE CAKE!!

Unfortunately, Michigan is in the middle of a SNOW-POCALYPSE, so we had to resort to Plan B on that front...a trip to the Saginaw Mall...wha wha wha WHAAAA...she was a pretty good sport about it though...she was just happy to shop all day long!!

While we were out she chose lunch at a middle eastern place called "TABOON" in Saginaw.  It was tasty, and we all got our shawarma with hommus and pita on.  Yummers!

That night I made her favorite dinner of "Mac-n-Cheese with Ham", and afterwards we had cake and ice cream.  In her words, "it was the best day I've had in a loooong time."

How do we feel about embarking on the official teenage years, you ask?  I'm glad we have Maryn to break us in...she is a great daughter who is patient, kind-hearted, and forgiving.  Thank goodness she is forgiving...

Ready or not, here we go... 

December Doings--Part 1

Forgive the picture quality, my cell phone just doesn't take very good shots. Ah well, it's better than nothing, I guess.

We got the Christmas tree up, and as many decorations as I'm willing to unpack.  Haha.  It's sparse, but it's still festive.  Take a look at these sweet ornaments from back in the day of my little Santa babies.  These were made by the Nursery in our Ward in Twin Falls.  It really takes me back.  Sometimes trimming the tree can be a little heartbreaking...sigh.

I signed Parker up for a dance class a few weeks ago. She really enjoys it so far. Of course, there's the problem of her wanting to teach the class herself...or hijack the lesson to act like a butterfly...but that's pretty much just life with Parker nowadays. She has a kind teacher who is working with her and us to make it a positive experience. Tender mercy indeed.  Something for her to be excited about, and something for us to do to get out of the house during the week. Win-win.

Avery has been playing 6th grade girls 5 on 5 basketball.  This is what the community does before the girls start playing middle school sports.  She loves it, and really lucked out with a great team this season.  They have won every game but two, and she is getting more confident and learning every game.  It's fun to watch the games.  Who would've known that Mark and I would be the parents yelling from the stands?!?  Not me!  Haha!

Look at that scoreboard!  That was the last game they won...43 to 15.  By the end, I really did feel bad for the other team.  NOT!!  Haha!

Midland has so many fun things to offer for Christmas, and this one I was actually able to be a part of.  The two Midland wards host a Nativity Exhibit for the community.  It runs over the first weekend in December.  It's kicked off by a wonderful concert Friday night, and culminates with the Christmas Devotional on Sunday night.  As you can imagine, they need all hands on deck, so Mark and I have volunteered to help set things up this past week, and it's started off our holiday in the right spirit.  Helping and serving is the best thing to do when you are remembering the Savior and His birth. 

The other reason I have loved being involved with the Nativity exhibit is that it brings back warm and happy memories of the Livonia Ward.  I have great memories of helping to set things up, being a hostess for the actual event, and of course, my infamous take down/clean up story from when I was 17.  My experiences definitely helped me build my testimony, and remind me of real Christlike sacrifice and love.

These were a couple of my favorites...and now I want to figure out how to make versions for myself!

White stencils on a simple black block.  This would look incredible in my living room. Sigh.

Scrabble tiles read "Joy to the World, the Lord has come"!  Love it!

Of course, the month isn't even half over, and we have other fun stuff planned.  I'm trying to journal more of our doings because I have all but given up on scrapbooking, and have decided that my blog has to become a journal for our family.  So here is my renewed effort to chronicle the story of our lives.  Wish me luck!