Christmas Adam and Eve in Eden

We're still sleepy and on a high from our holiday festivities. We had a marvelous time in Eden, Utah with the Dittos. It was a packed house! There were 49 of us and 5 people were missing. (Nathan and George who are serving full-time missions and Alex, Alexa, and Quinn.) We spent 4 nights there and enjoyed them to the fullest. I don't think I touched my book which says a lot. Games occupied most of our time. There were always people to play with which was great. I stayed up hours past my bedtime. The plan was to go skiing/snowboarding but due to lack of snow, most people decided not to bother. One afternoon, the crew went to a retro arcade to celebrate Brent's birthday. (I stayed back with Penny and Izzy.) 

We were never hungry and man does being in charge of a meal for that many people require creativity. For dessert on Christmas day, I quintupled my rice Krispie treat recipe. My mom trained me well. There were leftovers. For the lunch we were in charge of, we had 2 extra loaves of bread. Our car was packed to the brim full of food (I made over 60 cookies), gifts, and packages for Grannie with all of the gifts she sent to our house for her dozens of grandkids.

It was chilly

We decided to bless Penelope while we were with so much family. It filled my heart to be surrounded by many loved ones. It was hard not to have my parents there in person, but zoom helped lessen the blow. My sister and grandma also watched virtually.  Andrew gave Penny a solid and wonderful blessing. We are smitten with sweet Penny. In James' words, "we should have wrapped Penelope up and put her under the tree. She is our gift from heaven." Wise boy. Christmas Eve was even more special than normal with Penelope Elise's blessing. She has changed me.

My friend Valerie offered to make Penelope's blessing dress which was extremely thoughtful and touching. Wow, is Valerie talented. The dress was exquisite and she even made a bonnet too. How will I ever repay her? I definitely won't be offering to sew anything for her that's for sure.

The Ditto Christmas traditions are excellent. For the talent show on Christmas Eve, Isabelle performed a dance. For the nativity, our kids were the stars-- Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. We had a smorgasbord of all sorts of food on Christmas Eve. I contributed pizza (obviously) and salted peanut butter cup cookies. Like always, we did our favorite things exchange. Ryan had the same favorite thing as me-- Reese's animal crackers from Costco. Clearly I know what's good. Andrew gave Chick Fil A sauce as his favorite. We also did a white elephant exchange. I ended up with teeth dentures. Thanks a lot Logan (the dentist). Good thing I'm saving those for the next Ditto white elephant exchange, so watch out. Andrew got a hairy belly fanny pack. Glamorous. If only I had picked my own gift... Kelly also made the all brothers hike movie. It's always a surprise to see footage of the dangerous adventures they attempt like biking when it's pitch black outside.

We nearly forgot our kids existed while we were in Eden. They got loads of attention and there were toys galore. The house has an epic playroom, they went hot tubing a time or two, and even got on their snow gear to go sledding. Penny was very popular which was expected. Even our niece who doesn't like babies (not pictured) just had to have a turn holding our delightful babe. Our kids have slept in significantly every day since we have been home. They are worn out from all the excitement.

I'm not sure if the Dittos will stay in Eden again which is a bummer. There are too many of us now! I'm so grateful for the time we spent with family. I cherish it more than ever now that many of my family has moved away. Since our return home, the kids have been occupied with their new Legos. Andrew got me an air fryer for Christmas and let me just say that it's going to be dangerous to have that crispy french-fry making machine so close to my fingertips. The air fryer had 2 uses within 24 hrs of opening it.

Christmas time is magical and this Christmas was no different. Having a baby made December even more meaningful. Much to Isabelle's dismay, we forgot to set up a Santa trap and catch Saint Nick. Maybe next Christmas when we're in Brazil we will catch the big guy.

Highlights

Here are some recent highlights:

Penelope is now smiling!! 

Boy is she good at it. She smiles very frequently and is the cutest.

Thanksgiving!

Holidays have changed since lots of my family has moved. I wasn't sure what Thanksgiving would look like this year. In all honesty, part of me was dreading it. I did not want to host. My cousin Sara mentioned having Thanksgiving together and I jumped at the chance. My uncle Doug and aunt Sheri hosted in their beautiful home in Highland. It was magnificent. My kids were spoiled and loved. Izzy wept when we left. My kids got to hot tub! Sheri even had a Thanksgiving craft for them to do. She also had candy turkeys for everyone and advent calendars for the kids. She made hosting look like a piece of cake. I made the rolls and the 7 layer dip. I could hardly walk I ate so much. We stayed for hours. I am so grateful. Jessica, Chris, and George last minute decided to drive to Utah and they joined too. Joel was also there. Grandma was delighted to have so many great-grandkids in attendance and insisted on getting a picture.

Grateful

Grannie came into town!! 

    We made the most of our time together. We played games for hours. She made us her famous Chicago dogs from her mission. Grannie met Penelope. She accompanied me to a relief society activity and made a beautiful and festive centerpiece. We even watched the Great British Baking Show championship together. Grannie babysat one morning while Andrew and I snuck away to do sealings. We also went to the Orem Temple House, a live nativity, and had lots of BYU Dittos over for Sunday dinner/games. What a lovely weekend. Izzy sobbed the day after Grannie left. We all miss her! We're looking forward to seeing her and dozens of Dittos at Christmas.

Playing Rook-O-Lee. We also played "Just One" and "Idiot." Everyone stayed 4 hrs. It was delightful. We missed Dallin/Alysee and Tyler/Hailee who were out of town.

We saw Santa...

    Izzy told Santa she wants a pickaxe. hahaha. What!? After asking her to explain further, she said she wants a pickaxe so we can finish removing the stubborn tree stump Andrew has spent hours trying to take out. How thoughtful and helpful of her. After talking to her more, we learned Isabelle actually wants princess Legos.

Low quality pic, but I couldn't skip the story

Isabelle had a dance recital...

    Izzy is at a new studio this fall and wow, it is intense. She had a mandatory dress rehearsal the evening before the recital. Bless Andrew for taking her and dealing with a snowstorm all while I was quite ill with mastitis. The recital was at a high school in Saratoga Springs. On Saturday, many dancers had to perform in both recitals. Each recital is 2 hours long. Fortunately Isabelle only had to perform in 1 recital because she is in one of the youngest classes. Most dancers are supposed to arrive an hour prior to the recital. Thankfully, Izzy's class only had to be there 30 minutes early. Many families plan to be at the recital all day. What an event. In fact, many chaperones are needed to help and several sign up just to have early access to buy recital tickets. One of the chaperones happened to be my old young women's leader. What a blast from the past to see Lori again! Buying the recital tickets was quite an ordeal. It took over an hour to just get to the purchase page. Big shoutout to Joel for coming. Grandma wasn't feeling well. 

Isabelle is a confident and good dancer. She knows the moves and was graceful. I was surprised when I saw her after the recital. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Her costume was hurting/rubbing up against her neck. Poor girl. We gave her flowers which mattered a lot to her. We'll see if I can keep up with all of these dance moms. (They helped me fix Izzy's hair, so her hairpiece was more visible-- of course after I already took the pics.) I don't know what I'm doing and read through the 6 page recital information thoroughly. Talking to these other dance moms each week is something I look forward to. They are the nicest ladies.

Kennedy (who was in Isabelle's preschool last year happened to be in the same dance class as Izzy this year. What a pleasant surprise.)

Lydia is also in Isabelle's class. Lydia's mom is a family friend.

Can you tell tears were just happening??

We're looking forward to many more highlights this month one being Penelope's baby blessing!

Family Pictures

We got our family pictures back and I'm thrilled! Malia did a terrific job and we are so grateful for her. These pictures were taken on Saturday, October 14, so Penny was 4 days old. Our Christmas card this year is extra cute.

Penelope now smiles and it is the sweetest. So in love with my family of 5!

Playing Catch-Up

Halloween

Meet Spiderman and Skye (from Paw Patrol). This was one of the best days of the kids lives. Their excitement was through the roof. Of course, we had pizza. I was too tired to stay up watching a scary movie with Andrew. Rats. Penelope and I stayed home out of the brisk temperature and put a bowl of candy on the doorstep which felt like cheating. I secretly loved hiding from the trick or treaters and binging "Heartland." The kids came home with so much junk! They even got popcorn, homemade cotton candy, homemade doughnuts, and Pokemon cards. 

Junior Jazz Basketball

James played his first season of basketball. He spent lots of time practicing dribbling outside and wears his jersey any chance he gets. Ironically, 3 people from James' grade happened to be on his team which was a fun surprise. (Rosie, Jude, and Taft) James plays basketball at recess sometimes with one of them. 

As part of signing up for basketball, James got 2 free tickets to a jazz game. Andrew and James went together on Thursday, November 2. James was very into the singing, dancing, and snacking. Andrew said he couldn't get James to sit still for a picture. Along with the free tickets, the boys also got complimentary drinks and popcorn. James is still talking about his late night out with dad. He might have a new favorite song... "Sweet Caroline." He heard it at the game and continues to ask Google to play it at home. Glad the boys could enjoy this night out together while us girls ate candy and watched the movie  "The Little Mermaid." It seems like we'll be signing up for another season of basketball for Mr. James. He hasn't quite figured out his shot among other things like keeping his eye on the ball, but that's ok. His zest for the game is palpable. Andrew gets to fill in for the coach this week for the last game and James is thrilled. James can't believe the season went by so fast and is sad basketball is ending.

Talk about nose bleed seats

Penelope's Room

Decorating the nursery was exciting for me and I did it for a pretty low cost. It helps that we already had the necessary furniture. Jessica gave me ideas for the space. I never would have thought to hang a quilt on the wall, but it's the focal point of the room. It's perfect. Andrew hung some books on the wall (using spice racks from Ikea). When we purchased our home, the previous owners left a large mirror in the garage. I thought it was ugly and nearly chucked it in the trash countless times. So glad I didn't. Instead, I repurposed the mirror and spray painted the frame gold. I also purchased a gold curtain rod and lamp.

I still can't believe that I kept the first curtains I tried in the nursery. What luck! The curtains are darling, pink, and black-out. Andrew even hung the rod high enough to cover the oddly shaped high window in the nursery. The rug I wanted for the nursery was out of stock, but I found a cheaper, shaggier one and went for it. The room has come together beautifully (says the person who chose the style) and is feminine with all the pink just like I wanted. It is a bright place in our home which is a good thing. I have spent many pitch dark nights rocking and feeding precious Penny in there.

This lamp turns on with a foot switch. It's great because I typically have my hands full holding a newborn.

Photographing this space proved to be quite challenging. The room is so bright.

Layoff

In other news, Andrew got laid off again. GUIDEcx laid off 36 people which is 50 percent of the company. What an extra stressful time for this to happen-- right before the holidays and right after getting large hospital bills for the baby I just birthed. His severance package was by far his worst yet. He did get to keep his new Mac computer though which is awesome! Hoping my next blog post will be introducing his new employer and that I won't have to blog about unemployment again anytime soon. 2 layoffs in 1 year is brutal.

Ironically, right before the layoff, the kids and I went to visit Andrew at work. He showed us the office and we went to lunch after. (Penny is here too.)

Penelope has brought so much joy and been a wonderful distraction during this time. She is a dreamy baby. She has only been waking up once a night and sleeps long stretches (7.5 hours sometimes). We sure do love her. She's already a month old. We're itching to get our newborn pictures back of this angel girl.