Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. I love living close to both families because we were able to spend time with each. Christmas Eve started out with bowling which has been a tradition started long before I was born.



We made bowling shirts a few years ago but after wearing them for 3 years they are getting kind of gross. (No surprise since I bought the shirts at DI and then ironed on the logos) I'm hoping to make new ones next year, plus Lynnlee needs one for next year. We didn't make her one this year since she's too little to bowl.

We were at the bowling alley for a few hours so Lynnlee got a little nap in while we were there. You know she's tired when she'll sleep on some coats piled up on hard chairs.

We spent Christmas Eve night at Grandma and Grandpa Lowry's party. James got a Tigger stuffed animal which he loves and sleeps with every night now.

We slept at my in-law's Christmas Eve. James and Lynnlee woke up at 8 Christmas morning. James loved opening presents. After he finished opening them he kept asking for more presents. We told him, "You opened all of them, go play with your toys." Then I realized I brought the wrong batteries for all of the toys they got. They all needed D batteries and I brought every battery BUT D size. Thank goodness Walgreens was opened. They saved the day.

Christmas afternoon we enjoyed a yummy smorgesbord with my family. There was way too much yummy food and I think I ate more than I eat at Thanksgiving. Then we played some games afterward. Usually we play basketball at a local church but there weren't enough of us to play. Hopefully next year will be better. It has become a tradition that I like just as much as everything else.

Marshall's parents spoke in church Sunday. It was a very nice meeting. Here are the kids in their Christmas outfits.

(I have no problem getting them dressed everyday, if only I was better at making sure their hair was done too!)

I love Christmas time. It has been an exciting time with Marshall's parents home, and Lynnlee pretty much back to normal.

In other exciting news, Lynnlee is now bearing weight and will stand with minimal help for about a minute. It is so exciting because she has never wanted to stand or bear her own weight. James was completely opposite. As soon as he had head control he would stand in my lap for hours. I remember thinking at times that I wish he would just be content sitting in my lap. Well that's how Lynnlee is and with her I'm always wishing she would stand and be more mobile :) The grass is always greener on the other side I guess. She also just started to roll from back to front so she's closer to crawling. Hopefully she'll be crawling before she turns one!

Welcome Home

Marshall's parents returned home late Tuesday night after serving a two year mission in Russia. It was too late for all of the family to meet them at the airport so Marshall and Anthony picked them up.

We stayed at their house that night. The kids got to see them Wednesday morning. James had no problem giving them hugs but Lynnlee was a tough egg to crack. After a few days of being around them she has warmed up.

We are so excited to have them home!

Snowman

I'm so glad we finally have some snow! James and I had fun making a snowman this morning.

Lynnlee Update

Lynnlee finally gets to come off supplemental oxygen completely! (She has been on it at night) The oxygen company picked up all of these today and I was more than happy to say good bye. Best Christmas present!

Collier Family Christmas Party

Yesterday we went to the Collier Family Christmas party. It is in the morning so we had breakfast. So much fun and always yummy food! James and his cousins had fun running around the gym.

Lynnlee is 3 months younger than her cousin Katelyn but Lynnlee is a lot chunkier.

After breakfast we had a nice little program. The kids played a nice trio :)

Not all of the cousins could be there but here are a few.

9 months!

Lynnlee is 9 months today! Here are some recent pictures of her.

This Is The Place

We went to This Is The Place Heritage Park on Friday for a family party. We had only been there about five minutes when James wet his pants. Awesome! (insert sarcasm here) Luckily I had an extra pair of underwear and his pajama pants. Not the warmest but at least it was something so we didn't have to turn around and go back home, which we considered.

We saw Santa first. I thought for sure James would be too afraid to sit on his lap but he saw the candy canes and had no problem after that.

Then we saw the reindeer.

Then we rode the train to the top of the park and walked to each house on our way down. Each house has about a ten minute activity so it was just long enough to warm up.

James loved dancing and Lynnlee loved the puppet show. Mine and Marshall's favorite was the live nativity. We chuckled when we walked up to the the shepherd and James said, "Jesus." Then as he walked away he said, "Bye Jesus."

If you have never been I would recommend it. I think I'm going to add it to my list of Christmas traditions.

Healing

It is really amazing how fast kids heal. James had stitches last Sunday.

He had them out five days later on Thursday.

This picture was taken Saturday.

This was today and you can only see it if you look closely. Pretty cool!

Birthday

Marshall's birthday was yesterday. I surprised him last night and took him to see Brian Regan. My brother-in-law works for NuSkin. Brian Regan was performing at the McKay Events center for the NuSkin Christmas party. My sister offered us their two extra tickets. Brian Regan is hilarious! It was so fun!

James was at Bonnie's so we had birthday cake when we picked him up. Love all the cheesy grins!

Happy Birthday Lovest!
(Thanks Stoddard's for watching our little Lynners!)

Yikes!

It's funny what you let your kids get away with when you don't feel well. My stomach was angry with me when I woke up this morning. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning. So needless to say I spent most of the day on the couch or in the bathroom. James has never watched so much TV as he did today. I let him eat crackers in my bed and let Lynnlee chew on my phone. Anything to keep them happy. Luckily Marshall was able to work from home after lunch so I was able to rest.

I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better tonight!

Stitches

I guess I should be grateful that James has made it this long with out stitches. Last night we went to Beckie's for dinner and to watch the Christmas Devotional. We had only been there for about ten minutes when James was standing on a chair next the fireplace being crazy (he was so excited to see Lily). The chair tipped over to the fireplace and he hit his head on the edge. It made a nice gash through his eyebrow. Luckily we were able to leave Lynnlee with Beckie and go to the ER. James cried at first but calmed down in the car and kept asking to go back to Lily's house.

At the ER they put numbing medication on and a big bandage to keep the medication on. We waited for a half hour so the medication could kick in. Luckily James was happy during this half hour and read books with Marshall.

James cried a lot while getting stitches but I can't blame him. Six stitches later and he was happy to go back to Beckie's so he could play with Lily.

Lynnlee Update

Lynnlee had a checkup with her cardiologist last week. She had an echocardiogram that showed improved heart function since her surgery so that is good news!

Turkey Trot

Saturday my family planned a birthday party for all the November birthdays. We planned to go swimming at the rec center in Kamas that afternoon and then eat dinner at Kasey and Andrea's that night. We found out about a 5k taking place Saturday morning at the rec center so we decided to go to Kamas a little earlier and run the race then go swimming after. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching James and Lynnlee!

It was really cold and windy but we had fun running the race. Marshall won the race and I took first out of all the women. We both won turkeys! My nieces Grace and Lily each ran the 1 mile run. Grace took first and won a turkey and Lily took second and won a pumpkin pie.


Swimming afterward was a lot of fun! All of my siblings and their children were there. We had a really yummy dinner at Kasey and Andrea's. I love getting together with everyone!

8 months

Lynnlee is 8 months old! She was definitely meant to be the second child. She loves playing with James. He keeps her entertained. James has fun making her laugh too. He likes for her to take rides in his dump truck.

Where's Lynnlee?

When James was 5 weeks old I took a picture of him hiding in his stuffed animals. You can find that here (scroll down to the bottom of the post). I've wanted to do that with Lynnlee but kept forgetting to. So even though she's a lot older here's the picture.

She even has a blank stare like all the stuffed animals :)

Getting Ready for Bed

This is for the Grandparents. James and Lynnlee are becoming better friends now that she can do more. This is a picture while getting ready for bed last night.

Legos

This is what happens when you leave a 2-year-old alone with Legos while you make dinner. The picture doesn't quite do it justice. There were legos scattered through the whole room, under the couches, entertainment center, and who knows where else I have yet to find them.

One Month

It has been one month since Lynnlee's surgery. It is truly a miracle how well she has recovered. She only has to wear oxygen at night.

Yesterday we went to Bountiful to rake leaves at our town home. Lynnlee hung out and watched us. She kept picking up the leaves and trying to eat them.
James loved playing in the big pile. He was a good helper too. He would get a big handful of leaves to put in the garbage bag and by the time he got to the bag he had about two leaves left in his hands :) At least he was trying.

Halloween

Why is it so hard to get pictures of your kids in their Halloween costumes. At least for me it is. These are the only good ones I took. Lynnlee's picture is her weekly picture I took with the moose. Oh well, maybe next year I'll get a picture of them in their costumes together and smiling. Ha!

James liked his airplane except that he couldn't see his feet which made it hard to walk down stairs and up curbs. Cute costume idea but not the most functional. He wore it Friday for trick-or-treating on main street but it didn't last very long on Saturday night because it took him so long to go from house to house going up and down porch steps. It was fun to try though. Thanks Ali for your help! If we ever make another we now know to make it smaller.

Simplify

Simplify. That is my theme for this month. Since we are mostly home bound with Lynnlee I only go out if completely necessary. It has been nice.

Last year we each carved pumpkins. This year we simplified. We bought one pumpkin and let James paint it however he wanted. Marshall also helped. Excuse the fact that James is only wearing underwear. We didn't want him to get paint all over his clothes and we didn't think to put an old t-shirt on him.

Happy Halloween!

p.s. Grandmas and Grandpas are amazing! My Mom and Dad watched James and Lynnlee overnight so Marshall and I could get away for our anniversary. James and Lynnlee were both angels for my parents. The few nights leading up to staying at my parent's, Lynnlee and James had both been sleeping horrible. They slept the whole night for my parents and since they've been back home they have been sleeping much better. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Cornbellys

We've been taking it easy since Lynnlee came home from the hospital but one thing I wanted to do before Halloween was go to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point.

Lynnlee's doctor said to avoid being around large groups indoors but its perfectly ok to take her outside to get fresh air. So we went to Cornbellys last week before the cold weather hit.

It was so much fun. We went with our friends the Greers. There are so many fun things to do there! I definitely recommend it!

This is the jumping pillow. If only I had one of these in my backyard.

On Wednesday, out of nowhere, James started saying he wanted to go on a "choo choo ride." He asked that whole day and all day Thursday. I was glad we had plans to go to Cornbellys that night so he wouldn't have to keep asking. The Cow Train hit the spot.

And if the cow train wasn't enough we road an even bigger train: The Grain Train.