Twelve Days of Christmas

Here is my journal of our 12 days of Christmas. The trip was just wonderful. I think I enjoyed the holidays more than ever this year. We had parties to go to almost every day and just kept right on partying in between as well.

1. On the first Day of Christmas, I finished packing, wrapping, washing, and did all of the last minute things that needed to be done before our big trip.

2. On the second day of Christmas, We drove to Oregon on the 22nd with a car packed completely full of wrapped packages. We stopped at my little sister's house in Salem for a little visit. Her new baby Max is getting big already. Then we were off to my Aunt's house for the 16th Arave annual sing-a-long. They really catered to the little kids this year which was really fun. There was a lot of activities to do for them in between all the singing. Eden and her cousin Shelby really hit it off. They held hands and led each other around all night. Dallin connected with Ethan too and followed him around most of the night.
All of our babies, Max, Daniella, and Catherine.
Tanner and his cousin Adam.
Eden loved being Mary, I think just because she got to hold the baby doll.This my Parents, siblings, spouses, and kids. I think Dallin and Eden are the only ones missing because Eden fell asleep and Dallin escaped somehow. I wish I would have grabbed them.

3. On the third day of Christmas, the 23rd, we got ready for church early and visited our friends and their new baby. We sure miss them. Then we visited our Aloha ward and saw many friendly faces. I was hoping that Dallin would do well in Sacrament meeting so people would see how much progress he has made, but after being in the car so much the day before and an unfamiliar ward really threw him and it was a disaster. Tanner was also grouchy because it was his nap time. We finally called it a day a half hour before church was over because the kids were just not cooperating. But it was so fun to see everyone. Later that day we had another fun Christmas celebration and yummy dinner with Grandpa Dickinson and relatives. It was really fun to visit with grandpa and to see uncle Van who was up from southern California.

4. On the fourth day of Christmas, the 24th, I woke up and realized that I still had not gotten Peter a gift yet. For some reason I had the worst time decided what to get and I really waited because I knew whatever I got him would be too big to travel home with. I finally decided on getting him new skis since he lost one somehow last year during transport from the mountain. They are special trick skis that have tips on both sides for jumping and going fast. So Lori helped me with that project even though she had about 50 things left to do that day. That evening we had a fun Christmas eve party with my family at my sister Laurel's house. Everyone brought lots of food and there was so much that we ate half of the selection early in the evening and the other half later. We totally pigged out on all the yummy foods and special mixed drinks. We had so much fun laughing and visiting. My mom gave all of the grand kids their Christmas jammies and then we had a gift exchange. We draw names in our family so everyone got one gift to open.

Poor tanner touched the fireplace and got his first lesson on burns. He lot 2 little blisters on his finger tips. Poor little guy cried for over an hour. I really felt for him a couple of days later when I burned my hand too. Dallin enjoyed passing out all the gifts and Finally opening something after waiting for so long. We were having so much fun, but our kids got tired so we had to head home to the Dickinson's for the night. We still had to prepare for the morning which consisted of more assembling of toys than I realized. That took a couple of hours, but got me all exited for the kids to find everything in the morning.

5. On the fifth day of Christmas, Christmas day, we actually slept in until 7:30 or 8:00 which was so nice because we were worn out from all the excitement. Christmas morning was magical. With so many people there the tree was overflowing and all of the kids anticipation burst with delight.

This is the traditional Christmas morning shot on the stairs, before the festivities began.
Tanner walked right in and found his door toy. He sat and played with it for 20 or 30 minutes. That was good because he didn't have nearly as many gifts to open as our older ones and he didn't care a bit. He also liked his nesting cups and trike.
Eden's Rose Petal Cottage was a huge hit. She loved unwrapping all the presents first and then she disappeared in her house with her new baby and kitchen supplies for most of the day. I kept checking on her and she was busy as a bee. It was so fun to watch her being such a girl. I think I would have loved something like that when I was little so it was fun to watch.
Dallin got his "big truck" that he had been talking about forever. He loved it and Daddy enjoyed helping him drive it with the remote control. He also got his big boy skates which were also a hit. Overall, everything went over well, which was so gratifying after waiting so long to give them their loot. Peter loved his skis too and said that he wished he had had skis like those since high school, so I felt like I did good. I had to tease him though because now that he has his dream skis he will probably be spending most of his time on the bunny slopes for the next many years teaching the kids! I got some great accessories including a big zoom lens for my camera and a photo shop program. Very fun.


Then to our delight we got a white Christmas! Someone said that it was the first time it has snowed on Christmas since 1967. Not sure if that is true, but it is the first time I have ever seen it. The kids got a big kick out of it. Dallin and Eden got to put their new hats and gloves to use right away.


That evening we enjoyed a lovely honey baked ham and Dallin had some guy time in the hot tub. Peter went to a Blazer game with Greg and watched them have their 10th straight win.


6. On the sixth day of Christmas, the 26th, Peter went to work with his dad and I went out to lunch with my best friend Angie. Of course I picked Benihana again because I liked it so much when I came home last time. She brought her cute little baby and we got all caught up. then that night we went to the Hedman dinner, which is an extended relative party at the Shiloh Inn.

1. It was fun to eat and visit with people.
   
   
   

7. On the seventh day of Christmas, the 27th, we headed to Lincoln City to a beach house with the Dickinson's We spent three days playing and visiting. Dallin especially loved seeing the Ocean. On the first night we had dinner and played games and sang Karaoke.

8. On the eighth day of Christmas, at the beach, we had a gift exchange with the siblings and grand kids. Of course the kids really have the present thing down now and they enjoyed some new sticker books, cars and art supplies, etc.

The big surprise gift was a new computer for Lori from all her kids. It was fun to see her get something fun since she is the one giving so much most of the time. The other fun part was getting the Dickinson family cookbook that Tammy has spent months compiling.
For one of the outings, we went to a lighthouse. The ocean was so stormy and gorgeous looking. It was so breathtaking with huge waves and lots of fog.
Here is the lighthouse. I found out how out of shape I was after climbing all those stairs.
While we waited for our turn to climb the stairs, Dallin buddied up with Luke. He only wanted to hold his hand and hang out with Luke. Dallin LOVES everyone in the Dickinson family and knows every one's name and many middle names. Dallin loves to hang out with boys that are older than him and be a big boy.




I thought this picture of Derek looking out one of the windows was so cute.
When Dallin got close enough to see up the lighthouse stairs, he was in awe and ready to go. Unfortunately he didn't quite fit the height requirement, but the tour guide let his hood count for a couple of inches.
This was a great activity for our little guy. I am sure he would have loved to climb the stairs again.
Eden had fun hanging out with Grandpa in a little waiting room.

Back at the beach house, everyone loved sitting in the hot tub. Of course I am not allowed right now, but it seems like I am always pregnant so I am used to it. A group of us stayed up late having a sudoku tournament. It was fun because we started with easy ones and then they got harder and harder. We all had copies of the same one so we would race. I came in second place several times, but no one holds a candle to Heidi's mass skills. I took some lessons from her one time, but she still beats me in half the time.

9. On the ninth day of Christmas, our last day at the beach, we hung out and cleaned up and had a nice lunch. Here is a shot of our group. Some people stayed for one more night and some of us left that evening. We left and made it to a birthday party for my niece Shelby. She turned 5 and Eden LOVED the strawberry shortcake theme. She kept saying "look at the plates and cups" and admired Shelby's special strawberry shortcake hat and cake. I am pretty sure we know what to do for her birthday in a couple of weeks. It was fun to visit with my siblings one more time too.

10. On the tenth day of Christmas, the 30th, we visited the Dickinson's ward. Unlike the week before Dallin did great in sacrament meeting and Tanner was much happier. Dallin was also exited to go to "Grandma's primary" (she is primary president). He did pretty good, but needed one of us to stay with him. It worked out so well because Lori did a sharing time with a train theme and gave out train cookies. He was really into that of course and I think he thought it was cool to have his grandma teaching. That night we had yet another party with the hedman side. Grandpa and Peter played pool and the kids loved playing with their second cousins. We had another good dinner and sang some songs and visited with Peter's cousins and siblings.

11. On the eleventh day of Christmas, the 31st, I finally got to see my other best friend Amy and hang out for the afternoon. We went to the mall and shopped around and found some fun things to buy and had a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I love their Farfalle pasta with chicken, it is to die for. She also had her little girl who is almost 2 who kept us laughing the whole time. Then that evening we took the kids to the traditional new years eve skate with the Dickinsons. Peter talked his mom into having it early evening instead of after midnight so all the little kids could come. I had fun visiting in the party room and watching the kids have so much fun. Dallin felt like such a big boy with his skates but ended up playing with the cars and wagons most of the time. Eden was the same.

Eden loved the purple car of course.
Dallin enjoyed a variety of different vehicles.

Sherry helped Eden skate around for a while until she got tired of it.
Tanner loved his car so much he even at his pizza in it.
John and new baby Zora.
At least Dallin liked the idea of having his own skates. I am sure it won't be long until he is all over the place with them.
This was the best. Dallin and Tanner entertaining themselves. What a nice big brother. Dallin and Eden were so worn out that they fell asleep after 2 minutes in the car. So we took them home and put them in their beds. We left Tanner with the Dickinson's to play and left for a new years eve party at my uncles, which happened to only be 5 minutes away. It was a smaller quiet party with some of my relatives and my parents. None of my sibs came so I had my mom and dad all to myself! That was pretty cool to really sit and visit with them and hug on them a lot. We snacked on finger food and laughed and told stories the whole time. After the new year we headed home and to my suprise, Tanner was still up at 1:00 am! They said they were just having so much fun with him that he stayed up with the group. He can be really cute late at night so I can understand that. He crawled right into Peter's arms and fell to sleep pretty quick though. We finally went to bed around 2, and I can't remember the last time I stayed up so late.

12. On the twelvth day of Christmas, New years day, was our trip home so that Peter could work on the 2nd. We slept in until 8 instead of an early trek because of all the partying. We finally pulled out at 10 and got on the road. The kids did fine as usual watching movies all day. To my suprise Tanner only took one 2 hour nap and then stayed up late again last night. I can tell he is tired but I don't know when he will get caught up. We got home by 7:30 and now we are ready to get back to the daily grind. Dallin's therapy starts up again today and School starts tomorrow. Peter is back at work and I am blogging and unpacking today. I have so many more pictures that I will probably post later and videos too, but that is my recap of 8 parties and 10 days of nonstop fun and visiting. What a wonderful time. The kids are getting old enough to play with other kids, everyone kept commenting on how well Dallin was doing, and I didn't have very many responsibilities so I just enjoyed being with everyone. Definitely one of my favorite vacations ever.

Dallin

Dallin organized his cars in a neat row by color. If you look closely you can see that they are all facing the same way as well. They say this is very common thing for those with autism to do, but I think it is pretty smart. Dallin can now tell you his first name, last name, birthday, and how old he is also.

Dr. Visit

I had to go to a prenatal checkup this week. I managed to get a friend in the ward to watch a couple of our kids so that I wouldn't have all three with me. I decided to keep Dallin because he is really intrigued by going to the doctor ever since he had an ear infection a couple months ago. The doctor was so nice to him and he loved it last time. So he was pretty exited that it was mommy's turn to go to the doctor. He was such a good boy too. He waited so nicely with me in the waiting room and talked and talked. Then when we walked back to get weight and blood pressure Dallin told everyone that we walked by that mommy has a baby in the tummy and the baby's coming out in a long time! He held my hand and stayed with me. He even talked to the nurse all about the big truck he wants for Christmas. In the Examination room he sat so nicely in his chair while mommy talked to the doctor and then he came and stood right by me as we listened to the baby's heartbeat. He thought the gel on my tummy was pretty funny. Dallin was just a perfect angel the whole time and I was so glad I brought him. That is a good memory for me as I was having flashbacks of bringing him with the last pregnancy. I won't even go into how stressful that was. I can't believe how different he was this time. He is really amazing! I love seeing his progress show in the real life experiences. I am so grateful to have Dallin in my life.

Crazy

I have learned before that you have to be careful what you say, but this is pretty funny. I was upset about something the other day in the car and Dallin said "Mommy's crazy." I looked at Peter very accusingly as if he had said that to Dallin at some time. Peter said it wasn't him. We couldn't figure out where he had learned that, but being that it was sort of true at times, we thought it was kind of funny.

Then the other night I was trying to change a load of laundry and Dallin wanted to push the button so he was climbing all over the place when I was trying to put some clothes in the dryer. I stood up trying to work anyway and hit my head really hard on the corner of a cuboard that was open. It caught me so off guard that I screamed and sat down in pain for a few minutes. I told Dallin he was driving me crazy without realizing it(it had been a really long day so my patience was thin). A few minutes later we sat down for dinner and Peter asked Dallin to say the prayer. Dallin looked at me for a minute as if he was thinking about something else and said "mommy's crazy." OH!!!! Whoops, I finally realized that I said that to him and since he was repeating it, and I thought that probably wasn't a very nice thing to say either (true as it may be at times).

High Chair Woes

I really hate high chairs. At least the ones that I have ever had. We bought one when we had Dallin that was awful because the tray wouldn't scoot in very much. Since then we have had a couple of hand me downs. Both had the same problem. They also had high backs on them which makes for more cleaning and foot rests that my children would never reach in their high chair days so it served as a place for food to accumulate at every meal. Because the tray never scoots in enough there is always half of the kids food down inside the chair by the end of the meal and they stand up all the time because there is so much room.

So with a new one coming, for the last couple of months I have been keeping my eyes out for something more practical for us. Everything at the stores seemed to be the same idea so I was beginning to think that I was never going to find what I had pictured in my mind. Then we were eating at the McDonald's Play land and using their high chair and I was like, "Peter, why can't I find something like this?" as I noticed that their high chairs were everything that I wanted in a good chair. So Peter was like "Why don't you just get one of these?" (duh!) So after determining that the brand was Rubbermaid Commercial, it was very easy to do an Internet search and there you go! So here is the indestructible, easy to clean, way less messy chair. It is even made with some kind of antimicrocrobial material. Tanner doesn't stand up and the tray is so close to him that he can eat and it all stays right there. Afterwards, it is just the tray to clean for the most part. I know it is not the most attractive piece of furniture in the world but I would so rather have practical after 4 years of hating high chairs. I am pretty sure this one will last through the millennium.

Santa

Poor Tanner has a way of getting stuck a lot. Being the mean mommy that I am I made him wait while I grabed my camera. No babies were hurt during the making of this photograph. We went to our ward party on Saturday and the kids were so exited to see Santa. Dallin had a cute conversation that was very serious about the big truck that he wants.

Tanner just thought Santa was funny. Eden was a little more cautiuous but went ahead and told Santa she wanted a new baby.
I am so ready for Christmas. I got everything done so early this year that it seems like our trip will never get here. Peter and I wrote out our schedule for our 9 days in Oregon and it is so full and exiting. I can't wait to see all our family and friends.

Feeding the Fish

This is a fun video from when we fed the fish in Hawaii.

Christmas Tree Bribe

The last few nights I have been putting a mini christmas tree with lights in Dallin and Eden's room at night. The only rule is that they have to stay in their beds or it goes bye bye. I guess I am just tired of sitting in there until they fall asleep every night. They love the tree and it is really motivating, but Dallin hasn't been able to resist getting out of bed without me in there and they have lost the tree every night. So last night they finally did it! I am so exited. I kept checking on them because I couldn't believe it and they were just lying there. Yay! I hope this is the start of a new trend.

Baby and Christmas

I have been feeling a lot of movement from the baby lately which is so fun and comforting. So this morning I was lying in bed with Dallin and Eden and we were talking all about the baby in mommy's tummy. I mostly try to remind them not to jump on me. Then Dallin was asking if the baby comes out after Santa Claus comes. He kept wanting to put his hand on the baby and then they both kissed and hugged my belly. It was the cutest thing in the world. I think they are getting pretty exited about it.

Also, Dallin is still trying to figure out all the Christmas concepts. First he told us that Christmas was Santa's birthday so then we had our FHE and learned about baby Jesus and used a manger scene. Then he started saying Jesus was coming to put presents under the tree. So I keep explaining to him that on Jesus's birthday, Santa will come and bring presents. I think he is getting it now.

As for me, I am so relieved to have christmas cards done, all shopping done (except Peter), packages mailed, and plans finalized for our trip. That is a huge load off. I think the only thing that is stressful is all of the packing for being in Oregon for 2 weeks. Packing drives me crazy and unpacking is just as bad. But anyway, I am ready for all the fun.

Mystery Poo

Sorry if this is gross, but this is the life of a mom of toddlers so please don't be offended. Dallin's potty training has been a very slow process so last night I bought all new potty treats, small jelly beans for going number 1 and a snack sized twix for going number 2. I have been talking it up for Dallin and this morning Eden announced that she wanted to wear her Dora underpants today and get candy. So I taped 2 candy bars way up on the bathroom wall to motivate the number 2 process. Eden has been going potty a whole bunch because I give her candy for trying even if nothing happens. She has been very successful that way because there is no negatives if it doesn't happen. So anyway, all of the sudden I overheard them talking about poo poo. I ran into the bathroom and sure enough, someone had done it! This is huge since niether on of the kids have every really done this. I was making such a big deal of it that they both wanted to claim it. I kept asking and they both said it was theirs. It was hilarious. Finally I inspected both of their bums for evidence and sure enough Eden was the winner. Now that she got her Twix off the wall, Dallin is even more motivated to get it. I know, I am totally gross for sharing, but hey I find it funny.

Random kid things

Cheerio anyone????

Saturday Peter and I were talking and we decided that the kids were getting old enough to understand gift giving as well as getting. So we packed everyone up and went to the dollar store. We split up and helped Dallin and Eden find presents for everyone else in the family. They had a pretty good time, but Dallin was much more interested in some cars for himself. Then we came home and wrapped them and put them under the tree. I think they got something out of it, but I am not sure how much.

I know most kids eventually try cutting their own hair, but Dallin as we all know is a little extreme. I was sorting through a huge pile of mail we got while on our trip so I wasn't really paying attention. The next thing I know I feel a scissors in my hair and a snip. I quickly took my hair out of a pony tail and sure enough, a handful of clippings. Nothing noticeable thank goodness but I made it very clear to Dallin that Santa does not bring toys to little boys that cut others hair.

One more random thing: We bought a new plunger at the dollar store and Dallin is fascinated with it for some reason. Today for the lunch prayer he made sure to thank Heavenly Father for the plunger!

Aloha!

This week we went on a fabulous vacation. Lori and Lucy flew down and stayed with our kids and we spent 4 days in Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed at Waikiki about a two minute walk from the beach. The weather was not super sunny, but we were just so happy to have a little "honeymoon" just like six years ago. We have only been away from our kids one night since we started having them so we felt like it was just time. We ate so much good food, saw so many things, and missed the kids like crazy (couldn't help it). When we went on our honeymoon, it was just magical because I had never done anything close to that before, so I was exited to go back and relive that a little bit. So here is my long boring report with lots of landscape that won't mean much to anyone but me. We arrived late at night and checked into our hotel. Then we went out and found our favorite restaurant, Duke's Canoe Club, from our honeymoon six years ago. We sat on the patio right on the beach with the waves crashing and torches lit. It was a very reminiscent way to start things out. We were so tired that we zonked out. I still woke up in the middle of every night we were there because I am so used to getting up with the kids.
Day 1: This is a picture of Waikiki. We started off the day with another beach side breakfast at the Hula Grill with banana macadamia nut pancakes. It was so peaceful to look over the water and really feel stress free. Then we went to the international market place and did most of our souvenir shopping. We got the kids some t-shirts and lots of shell necklaces for Eden. We also got her a grass skirt, Dallin a shark tooth necklace, and Tanner a coconut piggy bank. Then it was time to hit the beach. We got some blow up beds and floated out in the water for a long time. It was so relaxing. Later that day, Peter's grandpa came into town and we all went to a Luau dinner.
The Luau was at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It was so fancy and the food buffet was scrumptious. My favorite was the roast pig, but there was so much variety. You can't really see it but the beach is right there too.
We even got some beautiful leis to really get the luau feeling.
After the dinner the dancers came out and we saw a lot of different costumes and dances from different Polynesian countries.

To finish the evening a fire dancer came out and I couldn't believe how fast this guy could move.
Day 2: We woke up to a windy day. It rained at times, but it would only last for about 60 seconds at a time. The waves were much bigger and we even has some rainbows. We were still comfortable wearing t-shirts and shorts so we didn't really care. Since it wasn't really lazy beach weather, grandpa rented a car and gave us a tour around the island. He knows the Island really well having been to Hawaii so much in his lifetime (4-6 weeks a year for 25 years).
We thought this tree was so awesome looking.
This is a statue of Duke the most famous surfer in Hawaiian history.
As we drove around we went to the Valley of the Temples and saw a Japanese temple. This is the 18 foot high Budha inside the temple.

Outside of the temple there was this stream with thousands of giant Koi fish in it. We bought some food to feed them and so many came out that they were literally climbing on top of each other to get it. The birds liked it too. They would eat right out of our hands.

This is outside of the temple.


This is called China man's hat.

This is a lookout that we went to on the north side. Grandpa was telling us about how he and Larry climbed down these rocks one time with scuba gear on to go diving.
LDS Temple
It was so strange that the wind in Waikiki didn't follow us. The north shore was pretty calm.
That evening Grandpa took us to this Japanese inspired restaurant that had these giant bowls of soup with noodles and all kinds of meats and garnishes in them. It was very unique.
On our way home we drove around the port with all of the ships as the sun was setting. Unfortunately something didn't settle right at dinner and I woke up so sick in the night. We went out to find some Pepto Bismol but the corner stores were closed so we had to take a taxi at 1 in the morning to a gas station for some medicine. That didn't help too much and I was suffering all night.

Day 3: I woke up still feeling pretty sick so we decided to stay at our hotel and watch a movie. It was relaxing to just lay around and I finally started to feel a little better. We walked to the beach for a while and Peter decided that he wanted to try Hawaiian pizza in Hawaii. We went to four different places before we found a place that would special make it for us. Apparently Hawaiian style pizza is something that Pizza Hut made up. It was still really good with island fresh pineapple on it. After lunch I went to the Hotel for a recovery nap while Peter went surfing. That worked out because I can't surf being pregnant anyway.

That night we went out to dinner to the Oceanarium with Grandpa for dinner. The aquarium was fun because they had divers go in and feed the fish and swim around. They even help up Happy birthday signs for the birthday people. The food was a really fancy buffet with the best prime rib I have ever had. There was so much food and even chocolate fondue with fresh fruit for dessert.

Day 4: We didn't have our camera with us for the day so here's the recap. We decided that we wanted to try snorkeling cruise. A tour bus picked up up in the morning and took us out to a small catamaran boat. Then they took us way out in the water to this 5 mile long sand bar. A sand bar is a place in the ocean that is shallow way out into the ocean. They set up a volleyball net and Peter played for about an hour while standing in 2 foot water and I stayed on the boat and visited with some other vacationers. Then we had a barbecue on the boat for lunch. Then the boat took us to a coral reef for snorkeling. Snorkeling is really fun and we saw lots of fish. I have to say that Hanama bay is more amazing though. It was a great day in the water. On the way home we took at detour through a rain forest area that was so lush and full. There was even a place where it was so grown over the trees had formed a tunnel. That was beautiful and I wished I had my camera. After we got back we showered and it was time to head out to the airport. Peter's grandpa drove us and we stopped at the most amazing little hidden restaurant at one of the ship ports. It was beautifully decorated with lots of sea glass and shells. The atmosphere was so charming. They had an amazing piano player come in that was blind. He just played all kinds songs just from his memory. We caught the red eye flight home and I could not wait to get back to my babies. Coming home was a sweet reunion. The kids were so exited to see us and see all of the things we brought back for them.

My hula girl
Eden clung to me the rest of the day and Tanner wanted Daddy to hold him and fell to sleep. The kids had a WONDERFUL time with Grandma and Lucy and they did a great job with them. The were definitely in good hands. Lori had even left the house cleaner than I had which was so nice to come home to. It was a lovely week, but I am so glad to be home. It was a lot harder to be away from the kids than I thought it would be.