Macie 8 months

Macie turned 8 months over Thanksgiving break so I didn't take pictures until we returned home from Utah and California. This month she has mastered standing up by holding on to anything she can and lifting herself up. She just started furniture walking too. She's interested in stairs and has crawled up a few. This month she got sick for her first time. The night before we left for Utah she had croup (mild) and the Dr. gave her a treatment. We thought that she would be fine, but then she had cold symptoms, then fever, and finally I took her to urgent care the morning we left to California and the Dr. said she had an ear infection, eye infection, and sinus infection so she was put on antibiotics. Slowly she got to feeling better. I could tell because she was sleeping better at night and not so sad looking. Poor girl. She's such a happy baby usually. People I know tell me how calm and good she is.

 ON…..

 THE…..

 MOVE!

We seriously spend too much time loving on this girl, if that's possible.

California

We drove to California Friday night for Jeff's grandma's funeral. Saturday we went to Grandma Nita's memorial service. Jun gave the eulogy and a couple other family members spoke. It was a nice service. Towards the end the great grandkids down below sang I am a Child of God and Together Forever. After we had a luncheon at the church and then that evening the family got together again.

 Macie and her cousin Jason meeting and schmoozing for the first time. Can't wait for them to really play together when they're a little older.

 The whole group with Jeff's Dad

 and the whole group with Jeff's mom

 Karen's siblings and kids, Paul, and the family.

 Grandma Nita's kids:Karen, Perry, Kristine, and Karol. Her husband, Paul and her sister Joanne.

macie and paul

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we drove to Cedar City. We drove through Vegas because when we've driven through Flagstaff, we've had some car sick issues. Thankfully on all 3 legs of long distance driving, the ride went smoothly. I credit it to the fact that I had an itinerary of crafts and fun things to do. The kids favorite things to do are the crafts. We made "thankful" hearts that we passed out to family members on Thanksgiving and made place cards for the table. We also made candy cane ornaments and wreath ornaments, sang lots of songs and "name that tune." We saved movies for night time and I brought some glow sticks for night time fun. We only had 1 mishap on the 21 hours of total driving and that was a bloody nose from Levi.
We made it to my parents house. Monday was kinda kick back. The kids loved playing and seeing snow again and they built a snowman with their older cousins Maddie and Trini. Tuesday everyone went skiing at Brianhead. I stayed home with Macie because she was sick. Jeff took Levi skiing. He did really well considering he is 3years old. I guess it was just scary because he couldn't get the "wedge" thing down and would go speedy fast "parallel" down the hill. If Jordyn stopped whining she'd be able to do it. I know she can do it, but until she deicides on her own that she WANTS to ski then she'll just be a floppy, oozing little girl. Next year we decided to put her in ski school. At this point, I'd rather have someone else teach her while we have fun with our other kids that are having good attitudes. Plus, she doesn't complain when other people teach her. . Sydney picked up skiing again. It had been 2 years since she last skied and kept up with her older cousin that skis every weekend.  They loved skiing together. Wednesday I went skiing with my parents and Sydney and Rowan. Jeff stayed home with sick kids. Thursday we had a nice Thanksgiving with 21 people. My brother Lance came and Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bob. The girls passed out the Thankful hearts that helped me sew and stuffed. That night we played Pictionary. Friday morning we were getting ready to leave. I was so sick of Macie being sick and not getting better and feeling so sad that she had been sick for so long that I took her to urgent care and Jordyn too since she had been coughing and keeping us awake all week. Macie had an ear, eye, and sinus infection. Jordyn got antibiotics too. We drove to California.  Fun pictures with my siblings and family.

 3 photo bombers

 9 of the grandchildren. Macie and Finn were probably sleeping.

 kid dinner table

 The cute, fun-loving, brave (to let all of us invade their home), generous parents and grandparents.

 Since she was sick, Jeff or I were holding her most of the time. She was very needy this week. Poor thing.

 This is a REAL sleep picture. You know Jeff is tired when he sleeps with this glasses on.

 SNOW. We missed playing in the snow.

 Madie and Trinity being "swag"

 We can't go to Gammie's house without having a nice, warm bath in her bathtub

 Macie and Jordyn on the rocking tiger. My two little sickies.

 Levi wrestling Uncle Kevin. Down below he's decked out in his ski gear. I wish I actually had pictures   and/or video of him skiing but hopefully next year.

 Sydney, Rowan, and Jordyn. Rowan is 3 years older than Jordyn. But Jordyn is so tall she's about the same height as Syd and Rowan.

 Mom, Brooke, and I

 Matt in med school and has some board exams next Spring. This was him a majority of the week.

 We were actually cooking in the kitchen downstairs when we all took some cute and silly pictures.

 Me and Jeff

 Macie and Finn. You can see how red macie's eyes are and runny her nose was. Finn on the other hand is all bright eyes and happy.

 Uncle Lance and Macie

Grandma Nita

This morning Jeff's Grandma, and the kids great grandma passed away and left this earth to join Heavenly Father and her other family.  She died of heart failure and her posterity are missing her absence already. This was the last picture of a family get together at Timmy's house last week to celebrate her 82nd birthday.

 Jeff of course has many memories of her that he should write down in this post (wink, wink, elbow, elbow Jeff) but I'll always remember her soft, soothing voice. Her voice alone told you how caring, loving, and a kind person she was to all. She always seemed excited to visit with us and the kids. Down below is a picture of her meeting Macie for the first time. Unfortunately Macie was all outta sorts and pretty much cried the entire time. But Grandma Nita was understanding, patient, and even dared to hold this very tired baby. Being the sweet-tooth person I am, I will miss her baking skills. I loved her frosting! She was very considerate in remembering our birthdays and always giving us birthday cards and a little gift in the mail despite us moving around so many times. She blessed our lives and we're grateful the kids had an opportunity to meet a great grandparent and really remember her.

halloween 2013

The night before Halloween we carved pumpkins. 

 Levi chose to be Captain America. He had his costume a month in advance and that was all he talked about.

 Jordyn narrowed her choices down and wanted to be an Indian girl.  Down below is her Indian pose.

 We had a big group of kids we trick-or-treated with around the neighborhood. After we trick-or-treated we passed out candy on our driveway with our firepit. Most families do that around here. It's a lot of fun. The kids got a bunch of candy. Sydney got 168 pieces.

 Our little bumble bee. She enjoyed trick-or-treating in her stroller watching the kids run to each house.

 The 5 of us. I dressed up as Vanna White because Sydney was a million dollar and bankrupt wedge from Wheel of Fortune. She really likes that show and the app on Jeff's phone:) I tried to get Jeff to put on his suit to be Pat Sajak but he didn't want to get back into this work clothes.

 I threw this costume together in about 5 minutes and dared to put this dress on. I wore this dress last in 1997 for my high school prom. I remembered it cost me only $15. Random memory.

This is a scary group of munchkins on several levels.