My Sweet Valentines

Even though I didn't have a traditional Valentine's Day this year, we certainly enjoyed it! About a week and a half before, we all made Valentine cards for Daddy. Unfortunately, the cadre will literally stomp all over yummy care packages so that'll have to hold out until he gets home!

My Mom was sweet enough to do Valentines with the kids for me while I was at the temple the Thursday before.

Aren't they cute?!


On Valentine's Day, we made heart-shaped sugar cookies and were able to decorate them. Here's Will's creation!

Gabby's (With the full-on cheeser)

Lydia had a little help but there was pure joy on her face when she saw that she was allowed to just dig in!

Enjoying their handiwork

Look at that loveable, messy face!

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope yours was filled with love from those around you!

And as a fun side-note for this month, Lydia finally popped out that first tooth! Isn't she a doll?!

December...Finally

Warning! This post is long, due to my slacking off in posting.

December was so nice! We started off with Noni's Christmas Party. They have it at Costco where they have a cake walk (with the yummy bakery goods they have at Costco; we got Peppermint Bark, mmmm), snack bar, music, drawings, soda bar, a free ham (or turkey), and a bunch of sports booths where you can earn $5 gift cards each. To end it, you can get your picture taken as well! Benj was drilling the next morning so we only got to stay about 20 min. but we took full advantage!

One thing I love about the Ranches is that Santa comes around and they throw candy from the Fire Truck. It's like 3 of kids' true joys all mixed into one experience! Here are the kids waving, so cute!


It doesn't feel like Christmas unless we visit Temple Square!

This is where Benj and I were sealed so it's fun to have this picture each year with little, cute additions!

Christmas was....interesting. That weekend, Gabby and I had the flu so we missed out on a few fun parties. (Hence the lack of pictures) Benj took Will and Lydia to my parents' Christmas Party on the 23rd and we had to miss out on getting together with Benj's parents on Christmas Eve. That night, Benj got some Burger King and we watched Miracle on 34th Street. The kids still thought it was great! Gabby was miserable Christmas morning but we still managed to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus around the German Chocolate cake Benj made and open presents. Will got a Toy Story 3 tent, a Sesame Street Memory Game,

and Cowboy Boots just like Daddy!

You can barely see it but Lydia got that Baby Chick that makes noises and an Elmo book that has sounds with the story.

Gabby also got Cowboy boots,

Disney Princess barbies,

and a Cabbage Patch Doll with a stroller!

Benj was spoiled with this Vizio TV (he did the Black Friday sale at Walmart; oh yeah!), reciever, and Blu-ray Player. The family got some blu-ray movies as well.

I was also spoiled with this nice, warm coat and Fablehaven series!

As Lydia's shirt says it, Christmas Rocks!

Somewhere in all this, the kids got a hold of the washable markers and decided to color on each other's faces. Gotta love sibling plotting!

New Year's Eve was nice. The night before, my family got together with some of my cousins to have dinner and play games. We had some neighbors and friends over on New Year's Eve. We had yummy homemade Cafe Rio Salads and snacks and played games while the kids watched movie after movie. It was heaven for all of us!

The Big 4!

Well, I can't believe it but my little William is 4 years old. We celebrated on his birthday, the 11th, at every 4 year old's dream place, Chuck E. Cheese. (Will called it "Chunky Cheese" lol)

We had his grandparents join us. We had some pizza and soda pop and then sang to Will. I know the cake looks a little busy but we had so many fun candles, we couldn't leave any out : )

Will got spoiled with presents! He got a Spiderman fishing pole from me and Benj. He's already had a chance to try it out twice with Benj at the, oh so exciting, Utah Lake!

Presents from the grandparents!

We got a killer deal on groupon for pizza and 150 tokens so they got to play and play until we dropped!

We sure love our sweet William. He's an amazing big brother to his sisters and so incredibly smart! Happy Birthday, Will!

Halloween

We got home from California Saturday morning at 3am. That night, we went to my parent's to celebrate with the Z family. We did our own trunk-or-treat and went inside for soup and hot chocolate. My sisters and mom did a little Halloween Bingo.

I led the family doing thriller and the monster mash


Will and Tyler were smokin' with their moves!

On Halloween, we went to Benj's parents. I got pics of all the kids before we headed out to trick-or-treat

Will was a dinosaur (my sister, Corey made the costume!)

Gabby was a bumblebee

Lydia was a flower!

I sure love these guys!

The kids loved trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Benj's parents live in a very established area so the old people just loved to even see kids coming to their doors. They loaded the kids up with as much as we would let them have : )


The whole family at the trunk-or-treat. I was a pilot and Benj was a tail-gater. (I loved the contrast with my brother, Jon, who was a BYU football player)

The kids were adorable with the excitement from going to random doors and getting candy! They loved it! Happy (belated) Halloween!

Lydia's Croup

Yes, I'm still blogging about our trip to California. So, the last post was how much fun it was celebrating Lydia's b-day. That night, Lydia was starting to have a deep cough and there was one point in the night where she was struggling to breath and had a fever. We gave her Tylenol and she calmed down and went back to sleep. By morning, she was happily eating and sounded a little raspy but didn't struggle to breath. We decided to give our last day at Disneyland a go. Right as we got parked, Lydia woke up and was really struggling to breath. Her little chest was collapsing and her throat was caving in. I dropped off Benj with the other kids at the entrance and headed over to the Urgent Care Center. The Dr. sent me to the Emergency Room 10 min away because she was struggling so much to breath. When I got in there, they had us come right in because she sounded so bad and gave her a breathing treatment. They gave her steroids and did an x-ray on her throat. The x-ray confirmed that she had inflamation in the throat. It's a type of croup that's manifested in the throat instead of it normally being in the chest. We waited a few hours and she was not getting much better. The dr. said he only felt comfortable giving her 2 treatments and that she would need to be transferred to the Children's Hospital a few miles away. I was so worried about my little Lydia and couldn't believe this was happening. The ambulance came to pick up Lydia and I followed them in my car.

This was Lydia's home for the next day. Looks like a prison cell, eh? She sure acted like she was being imprisoned. We were in isolation so we couldn't leave the room, poor girl!

By the time, they let me leave to pick up Benj and the kids, Disneyland had been closed for hours and they were all exausted! Benj ended up sleeping with the other kids in the car at the hospital parking garage for the night. Luckily, Lydia slept very well that night and didn't need any treatments.

Unfortunately, the next morning I asked for another treatment because I thought it would be good for her to have one last one before we took off. Come to find out, they can't release you until 6 hours after their last treatment. So Benj went to Rich's to pack our stuff while I tried to keep the little monkey at bay. She was feeling good enough to crawl around and so she would make that alarm sensor go off nonstop. The nurses got sick of making sure she was ok so they brought in this high chair to keep from making it go off so much.

That lasted about 10 minutes : )

We were finally released around 5pm and I drove us all the way home. I was done with Cali for the time being! She has taken quite a liking to the little bear they gave her at the hospital.

I sure love this little girl and am so grateful to Heavenly Father that she's ok!

Lydia's 1st Birthday

Lydia's 1st birthday fell on the wednesday that we were in California. We were planning on going to Sea World and the beach that day but Will and Gabby woke up with a fever and we thought we would give them some down time. We were staying at Rich's house (Benj's brother). Amy, Rich's wife was so sweet to make it a special birthday for Lydia. She blew up balloons, gave her a gift, and even decorated Lydia's little seat!

We started off the celebrations with balloon fights!

Will and Gabby were feeling pretty good by then but still needed to rest!


You're never too sick to have cake and ice cream, right?

Amy had music playing and her kids sure knew how to shake it!

Benj was doing his own zumba moves!

Don't you love how Amy decorated her chair? So cute!

Of course, I have to show off the cake I made for Lydia

Lydia was not afraid to dig into that cake. Will and Gabby didn't get into it nearly as much as Lydia. She was all about eating every last crumb!

Gotta love the hat!

Washing off in the sink!

Nice and warm!

Amy and Rich gave Lydia an adorable red sweater and cute silver shoes!

We got her a vibrating elephant that plays music. She loved it!

We were so grateful to Rich and Amy for making Lydia's birthday so fun! I sure do love my Pretty Lyddie! She's a momma's girl all the way and has such a sweet little personality!