fishing

There is some great fishing to be had here in SC. Cannon is beyond excited for all the fish that he is going to catch ;) Our first time out back in October proved to be beginners luck or maybe we were at the right place at the right time because we went several times after that and never caught a thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Arm

Elyse broke her arm on December 5th. I was making dinner when Elyse said that she was going to go outside and ride her skateboard. My kids are not daredevils or risk takers so I never worry much when they play. I had the thought to have her stay in and help, but since we moved to the suburbs so our kids could be outside as much as possible I thought "no, let her go have fun"

A few minutes later I heard some strange screams which I just assumed were kids playing. I heard them again and though "uh oh" She came screaming into the house " I broke my arm! I broke my arm!" My stomach dropped and I inwardly panicked. Her arm looked like a rubber pencil. My first thought though was please don't let me see a bone sticking out, I can't deal with that! Thankfully it was just bent at an odd angle with no bone protruding. She was pretty freaked out but wasn't in pain...yet! We used homeopathy and essential oils to calm her down and treat the swelling. An ortho resident in the ward came over and said yup it's broken. He set us up with some great Dr's who were waiting for she and Can when they got to the ER. Everyone has been so nice through this whole process. NY medical staff leave much to be desired, but here they were beyond amazing.

 

 

Our sweet nurse Kim who helped us each time we had a checkup, which after 8 weeks with the cast totaled about 5 visits. Ugh.

This was the first time they took her cast off to give her a smaller cast. Poor girl! She was such a trooper though! Can told me how brave she was when they gave her an IV and did everything in the ER. She really is growing up! She did everything she normally did but one handed. She cooked, cleaned, did school work and even learned rainbow loom with one hand and some fingers :)

Windy

This is from the wind tunnel at the Children's Museum.

 

 

New Years

We had a New Years party again this year. I think the best part was the fact that we could go outside and not die of the cold while we set off FIREWORKS! It was super fun. Sadly of the 2 pictures I got of the whole night this was the best ;) 

Anniversary/Graduation

This is certainly not the most flattering picture of either of us, but Elyse only had one arm and was complaining that the phone was too heavy.... so there ya go. 13 years married to this guy! I am so grateful for his love and dedication to our family. It is so strange to think I've been with him for 14 years! I can't wait to see what our future holds!

This is also a graduation post. Cannon did a masters in real estate through NYU. It was a 2 year program that he finished in 1.5 years. He worked SO hard. I would feel so sorry for him when I would see the textbooks and spreadsheets and hear about seemingly impossible classes. He was a stellar student and got good grades, all while working and keeping his family happy, having a new baby and moving his family here. We lived apart for 2 months which was hard, but because it was my choice I really didn't have any room to complain :) He did visit us a lot though. I think because we've been together for so long we really hate being apart. It was also hard for him to be away from little Elly, who was still so new. He said goodbye to the city the day after his last class, loaded up a rental car and drove down here. 

Before and after

I found this at a yard sale. 

And we turned it into this!

Trend setter

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I might be a trend setter. When I moved to SLC 3 months into my senior year (GAH...I still have nightmares) I wasn't the most well liked or the most fashionable gal in the school, but I was the only gal in the school who wore ankle socks (thank you east coast). That's right, everyone else was wearing mid calf tube socks! The horror! I was appalled. I was embarrassed for my fellow gals. But, after coming to school showing off my 110 pound 5 foot long legs, they caught on and tube socks went out the window. True story. Ahem.

Anyway, fast forward 5 years and 2 of my fellow mom friends have told me that I inspired them and made their homes happier places! One was inspired by my bedtime and the other by my eating routine during the day.

Let me explain bedtime first.

I put my kids to bed at 7. Ever since Elyse was a toddler bedtime has been at 7. No ifs. No Ands. No butts (see what I did there?) I rarely have kids come out of their room, they know that 7 is bed time and I'm off duty. We often will even put them down at 6:30 if the need is there. I know so many people who let their kids stay up until 8, 9 and even 10! This is crazy to me! Kids need sleep, and yes my kids get up early but they have to get up early anyway so I may as well get some peace at night. Amen!

This has saved my life. Literally. And the life of my kids. Literally. There were times I may have killed them had they been up any later. The time that I have in the evening to myself and with Cannon has been beyond amazing.

I have to admit though that since Elyse turned 12 last month we have had to reluctantly let her stay up until 8, but that didn't happen until she asked about 2 weeks ago. The time with her has been nice though since the dynamic is so different when the boys aren't around.

A word of advice when implementing this new routine. Just say NO! Don't give in to that last drink, or that snack. Be mean and heartless. Or, you could just stick to your guns and remember that you are the BOSS!

On to the food.

The food we buy ain't cheap. (side note: When we lived in NYC we would shop at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods once a week and since there were 2 health nuts, 1 health source and 1 whole foods within 10 blocks of me it was no big deal to run and grab stuff when we needed it. But in SC the nearest health food store is 25 minutes away, not to mention we are now on a mega budget.) So when we would find our pantry bare after 2 days I was fed up! The kids were getting up at 6, eating breakfast and by 8 they were on their second meal! So I said enough! No matter what time they wake up absolutely no food until 7, snack at 10:30 which I dole out, lunch at 12:30, snack at 3:30 and dinner at 5:30-6. We rarely deviate from this plan and as such our grocery trips are 1 week apart with no panicking in between. Strict? Yes. Does it work? YES!

Remember, your kids won't starve! There are kids who eat one meal a day and survive. A snack is a snack and not a meal....it is meant to tide them over until their next meal. An apple and some nuts will suffice. Half a granola bar and half an apple is great!

I hope that this helps someone out there!

Lawn

I am loving having a lawn. We have a front and back lawn and use it as much as we can. When the weather is nice we throw down our super fancy moving blanket and hang out, eat snacks, play games and this day we decorated our Christmas stockings! The weather here is so lovely, this winter has had it's share of cold days but also so many gorgeous ones!

Stubborn

One morning August was throwing a fit, he went outside to lay down and refused to get up. He is such a funny kid! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Definitely late, but I forgot to post here. Did you see the Christmas Jammies youtube video? I totally hijacked their idea.

I also had tons of fun decorating the house this year!

 

 

 

Updates

These next weeks you will have to endure many updates. All the way through March. One day I will get totally caught up, but tonight I got the blog bug and wrote a bunch of posts that will be posted over the next few weeks. I love keeping this blog though because it motivates me to journal through pictures. I love my family so much and I hope that one day they will look at these pictures and remember all of the good and hopefully none of the bad :) They will see my smiling face and think "my mom was so awesome, look at these pictures.....all of that yelling must have been a figment of my imagination"

I am trying.

Tub

My good friend Amy (who is also a fellow doula and homebirther) started a really cool company called Tub. I ordered a wallet for Can and he loves it! Check out their website http://tubpeople.com/

Happy Birthday Elyse!

 Elyse turned 12 a few weeks ago! Oh my gosh, how did that happen?? We had a fun day getting ready for her big sleepover! Can and I decorated the night before so she woke up to a very festive house! We carefully picked out fun things for her friends goodie bags and made a yummy dinner. 

 

Everyone had fun and thankfully didn't go to bed too late :)

We love you so much, Elyse and are so proud of who you are! We are headed to the temple this Saturday for her first time, we are all super excited! Sadly the temple is 2 hours away so it won't be a regular occurrence. Read more about the temple here .

Karlito's

In August I went to Warshington state to be with my lovely Karlito while she went through the temple. I was so honored and blessed that she would ask me to be there with she and her family on this special day. But let's be real, if she hadn't asked I would have begged ;) 

She came all the way (3 hrs) through an amazingly beautiful mountain pass to pick me up at the airport. I couldn't believe the gorgeous scenes all around us.

This is a view of her family's gorgeous apple orchard

 

 

And her parents lovely home.

Her mom had fresh flowers waiting for me :)

We took a boat ride to Stehekin which is a tiny little town with one store and no utilities. the only way on or off is by boat. They get snowed in each winter but the people we talked to love living there. In the summer it's grand, but gobs of snow each winter...no gracias.

We went on a bike ride through the foothills and it was so gorgeous.

 

The glacier falls. 

 

It was way too cold to get in, but of course Karley took that as a challenge. In my defense I did swim after our ride in the lake and it was colder than the falls, coldest I've ever felt. It's quite a rush. I also swam in lake Chelan which is almost as clear as the Caribbean....it is absolutely stunning water. You feel as though you've just taken a bath when you come out.


The beautiful Seattle Temple! It was an amazing trip and such a beautiful experience to see my best friend make sacred covenants. I love you Karley!!






Karley's lovely mom, Krissy.



This was about a week after I had Elly and we were saying goodbye. We both cried ugly tears (more than once) it was so so sad, even Can cried because he knows how much we love each other. My sister wife, in another life :)