Beginning of December Christmas fun and Family Pictures

Like most years, at the beginning of December we get all excited to follow along with the challenges/invitations associated with the church's Christmas initiative, LightTheWorld... and then things get busy and we lose steam a little but we still love to try and make a difference in sharing Christ's light in special ways on the days that we remember. 

Alec had his Christmas concert pretty early. He had some really fun pieces! Sugar Plum secret agent or something like that. Christmas classics with a 'spy' theme sound. He did really well. I love to see and hear him play his saxophone. He doesn't play much at home, but he really enjoys band and I'm glad he's learning to develop this talent at school.

Our ward Christmas party ended up being the same night that Dixie had gotten all the girls in our family tickets to go see the BYU folk dance team and dance department classes put on the Christmas Around the World concert.  Chris' cousin is on the team and they did a few dances at a recent campus wide devotional and Chris thought the boys would love to see it too, so Dixie got tickets for everyone in our family. We had to leave the ward Christmas party a little early to make it to the Marriott center on time for some pre-concert games.  We got pictures with Santa, (which Max and even Freddy were REALLY nervous about it... good thing for older siblings to follow!) There was a mix up with the BYU catering and the food never was ready for the dinner! We had planned to leave for the Marriott Center right after the dinner but we ended up leaving before the last-minute Little Ceasar runners got back with food. Dixie ran home and made us all some PB&J sandwiches to eat in the car. ... We were all so hungry, PB&J never tasted so good.

The Christmas Around the World concert was AMAZING!!!! Seriously the dancers are all so talented and the music so fun and the costumes so beautiful. We were all mesmerized for the entire time. Ok... thats not quite true...all the older kids and adults were mesmerized. Theo and Max BARELY made it through to the intermission. Chris offered to take them home and I stayed with the rest of the kids to finish it off. Freddy didn't quite make it and fell asleep towards the end. I was in a little bit of a bad mood and I regret being childish about the seats and having to deal with babies instead of having a girls night like I anticipated. But regardless, it was a fun memory and I'd love to make this a tradition.

Family Pictures!

I'd been trying to get a good family picture for a few weeks. We hadn't had a good one since Theodore was born. I even brought coordinating clothes to Jared and Ashley's over Thanksgiving, hoping to get someone there to take our picture. It is such a hassel to get everyone ready and we didn't ever get it to work. So on Sunday, I decided if I just helped pick out some outfits before church we could get a few pictures afterward. It almost didn't happen. Charlie was mad about something and didn't want to cooperate... but we persevered and I'm glad we did because I think a few of them turned out nice. 

Dixie took the ones of our whole family and then I took the ones of the kids. Charlie and Alec helped take ones of Chris and I and, like usual, Chris goofed around to make the moment fun. Man, I love that guy... and isn't he just the handsomest ever?!? How is it fair that guys just look better and better as they age.

Thanksgiving

At the last minute, Justin and Radene decide to come out to Utah for Thanksgiving since they have a funeral they wanted to attend.  That meant that Tiff and Todd weren't going to drive out to CA to be with them and instead the Betteridge side would ALL be together for Thanksgiving if we could convince Hailey to come down, since Mom and Dad were planning on being here in Utah already to close on their new house they just bought in American Fork.  I love an impromptu Family Reunion! We deiced to sleep up in Herriman for a few nights so we wouldn't have to drive back and forth and miss out on any of the evening/morning time fun.  Sarah and Jordan decided a similar thing. Justin's family stayed at Tiffany's, along with Sarah, German and Hazel for a few nights, while we stayed at Jared and Ashley's along with Mom, Dad, and.... surprise... HAILEY finally agreed to come! I think it was more about her chance to get a puppy than actually spend the holiday with us! Ha!

The morning we're trying to get all our stuff together to leave Max gets into the toothpaste and smears it alllll over his head. Typical. 

Our first order of business being all togeher was for the grandkids 12 and up to go do baptisms together at the temple with Mom and Dad.  Then we basically prepped for the big day and played in the snow since we got some pretty good snowfall over the break.

Thursday morning we planned to do a Turkey Bowl. The snow made it interesting and we played a big game of Anything-Goes-Soccer.

The meal itself was delicious. Because of being told I have Pre-Diabetes, a month previous, I had to keep my portions small and carb/sugar light. I was pretty proud of myself on how I did. It was probably the first Thanksgiving in my life where I wasn't stuffed silly after the meal.  Chris was feeling a little under the weather ... but not because of the weather or any cold. He's allergic to Tiff and Todd's new cat so when Hailey did end up getting a puppy (an adorable Corgi named Finn) they were kind enough to keep him to one room so that Chris could have relief in at least one house. 

All being together in two houses close together made Dad and Mom really reconsider their plans for the Ridge. One big cabin where we could all be together really is the ideal and they're hoping to make it work to build one big lodge thing in two years when Dad's company (hopefully) sells.

All being together also meant that Chris, Theo, Max and I shared sleeping quaters and that meant miserable nights. Especially after Max jumped on some couches funny and cut his lip and bruised his gums/front teeth pretty bad. He swelled up pretty good and wasn't able to eat/bite anything for a while! Poor kid... Thanksgiving is all about the food! He was in pain and kept waking up in the night but wasn't able to drink his bottle of milk without crying. He woke up Theo and I ended up bringing Theo in bed with us most of the nights and almost nursed him constantly so he wouldn't wake up Max. Chris and I were exhausted but it was super fun to be together and get some good game/conversation time in with my family.

Two days after Thanksgiving we left Herriman and headed up to Ogden to meet with Chris' dad's family for the first time ever in our 15 years of marriage. I met his cousin Sasha for the first time. It was so fun to see Lynn's family, it had been way way too long. Grandma Claudia (GiGi) is getting on in years and even forgot who I was. I heard her whisper to Chris' cousin, Brenna, as she pointed at me "Who is this one again?" We met at Claudia's church and had a yummy meal and then gathered around and heard stories about James and Lynn growing up, or even Claudia growing up.

Coming home from Ogden that day we got caught in TERRIBLE traffic as I-15 was shut down completely in both directions around the point of the mountain because a tanker with flammable gas tipped over and blocked the entire north-bound lanes. It took us 2 hours to travel .5 a mile to exit the freeway.  Eventually we made it home! Home (as much of a home as we have right now living at Chris' parents) felt so good.

Fall craft with my sisters

I've been craving some creative outlet time, some away from kids time, and some sister time. We combined them all and planned a crafting girls night. We scoured Pinterest to find some elegant, adaptable center pieces and decided on doing something like these three:

We met up at some stores the week before to buy supplies and I went up to Herriman a few days before to prep some of the supplies (cutting and staining the wood) with Tiff. Then on the actual night we met at Tiff's (Todd was out of town) and got to work!

We assembled the wooden boxes first, then gathered around the table trying to put the greenery in.  We had Christmas music going and yummy, healthy treats and had a really good time. It took a while and we didn't leave until 12:30AM.

Cute, snuggly boys

After the kids get off to school, these boys love to cuddle while I try to get stuff done in the mornings... exercise, shower, clean up breakfast, clean up the constant mess of kids, gather laundry, etc... Anytime I lay Theodore on his back Max will want to lay down right next to him and often shoves his arm underneath Theo's head.  Max wants to 'old it'   (hold him) alllll the time, but with a smile as cute as Theo's, can you blame him?? 

 

 

Max also loves to get into anything that is especially for Theo. The bouncer, the carseat, the swing, bumbo, whatever.  Sometimes the only way to get Max to be changed or dressed is to change or dress Theo first and then say, "two babies?"  so Max will lay down next to him and let me change or dress my two babies.

We don't have to work hard to get Theodore to smile anymore. He does it anytime he sees one of our faces... mostly when he sees my face, or Chris'.

Also, Theo's had goopy eyes since he was a month old. Both eyes, alll the time. I hate to see them all red rimmed from wiping them but I also had to see them all gooped up. If I don't wipe them right away, they'll get all crusty and then he won't be able to see. The doctor at his 2 month visit said this could last for a year or even two and be 'normal.' On Theo's 3 month mark, one eye cleared up all on its own but his left eye stayed goopy. I took this picture to remember how pitiful he looked. He's crying because I haven't unbuckled him yet, not because his eye bothers him. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but it still just makes me so sad to see it goopy.

Max learned how to climb out of his crib and can scale the pool table without anything to stand on. Its rough. One good thing that Max is really good at is folding his arms for prayers. He even generally lasts the whole prayer long sitting still and quiet with his arms folded.  He really likes to make sure everyone else is folding their arms. He's been known to call people out (in the middle of a prayer) to fold their arms. He'll say their name and then say "ahms!" like "CoCo, Ahms!" for Charlie.