On The Third Day Of Christmas My True Love Gave To Me; Three Cold Sores, Two Princess Birthday's, And A Staple In My Sweet Carson's Head

So ya, I've been a blogging delinquent lately. But there is just SO MUCH going on and I can't seem to find a minute or 30 to sit down and document it all. My birthday passed (along with Thanksgiving). It was great as far as birthday's in your thirties go. Trevor took a whole day off the week prior to take me to the Happiest Place on Earth. Just us again. It was awesome. Rob and Ashley joined us and it was fun to play big kid style. I got a new camera bag from Trevor. I love it. I normally wouldn't write down my gifts but I was trying to remember what I got last year, and the year before and the Christmas's and Anniversaries in between. I couldn't. And I have a great memory. I've just misplaced it lately.





Thanksgiving was a quiet affair. Just us and Mimi and Papa. One great turkey, and an almost empty movie theater after, we deemed it a success. By the way, Tangled is all kinds of cuteness.





Black Friday brought the world 33 years of being graced with my presence. Trevor gave me the royal treatment and made me (or ordered me) breakfast in bed. Later in the day, he took me to Harry Potter and then out to Thai food. Perfection.

Monday brought me a new niece, in all sorts of dramatic style. It's not my place to give all the gorey details, but let's just say I'm so thankful that Chelsea is alive and baby Jillian is out of the NICU and home to a family that loves her. Yes, it was that dramatic. Too many blessings to count.



Friday night started out just dandy. We had a ward Christmas party and I love valid reasons not to have to cook dinner. We brought a non-member friend of Preston's who was spending the night at our house. We got home a little late, but I didn't want to be a fuddy-duddy mom so I let them play a little XBox. Evan and Luke were also over for a late nighter. Carson Walker was irritating Preston Scott a little too much (or a lot too much) which subsequently caused (or forced, in Preston's words) Preston to kick him hard enough to project him into the open door of the entertainment center. Now I'll skip the part where Trevor dang near burst a blood vessel screaming at Preston, the many, many, MANY tears on both Carson and Preston's part (Preston was devastated) and jump to the emergency room part. I only had to wait 90 minutes to see a doctor (a doctor straight out of Grey's Anatomy named Scott Walker...Carson loved that). 90 minutes of trying to calm a very nervous, very anxious, very injured Carson. I thought for sure he was going to give himself an ulcer over the anticipation of stitches. Stitches he didn't get. Evidently staples work best on scalps. One was all we needed, so there was no reason to numb him. The lidocain shot would be more painful and take longer than the actual stapling. He didn't cry but it hurt. Bad. So bad that I took him to get a Happy Meal at 2 o'clock in the morning. Trevor and William were up waiting for us...yes...at 2:30 am. Little stinker is teething again.

Saturday brought a visit from Santa. Carson passed his present request via me...chatting with Santa was just not in the cards this year. Normally I would have forced him to ask for the Remote Control Motorcycle himself but the boy had just been stapled back together and was running on very little sleep. I took pity on him. I was supposed to go to a photography workshop that afternoon, but napped instead. Good thing I did...

...because Sunday morning, William woke up at 3:00 am and partied until 5:00 am. He also demanded my audience at this party. Not all was lost, "The Prince and Me" was on some random network, and I got to crank out a chick flick while he tore apart the house. When I woke up at 7:00 am, my lips had been invaded by 3 massive cold sores. I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with stress and a lack of sleep. I'm looking into it.

Sunday was also my Princess's birthday. Abby is the big "Oh, four" now. I can't believe it either. I'm going to post about it all later because it has taken me 5 days to get this post done and it all still seems very overwhelming...plus my lip hurts and William just whacked Carson right on his stapled head.

Thanksgiving And An Old Bird...

To summarize...I brought my camera to Thanksgiving dinner. Then I didn't take one picture until it was almost time to leave. I plead dementia, brought on by old age, for my lapse in photos. BTW I also turned 32 on Thursday. See? I have solid evidence. Here are the few moments I did happen to capture.

~Movie time with Mimi. A highlight.~

~Early lessons in pinochle.~


~Black Friday prep.~

~Auntie Gina humoring Abby.~

~What tryptophan?~

That Was Sooo Last Month

So, I missed a few events. Nothing major, like a major holiday...wait, no. I missed Thanksgiving. Actually, I missed it in more ways than one.

~Don and Ron carving the turkey~

First, I'm 4 days late in blogging about it (for shame)! Second, I was in the wrong state for it. Our families have a pretty fair arrangement when it comes to holidays. On the even years, Thanksgiving is at the Andersen's and Christmas is with the Miles Clan. On the odd years, vice versa. So, being that it's 2008, I should have been in Washington. I was not. And I heard about it too. From my sisters, my mother, and the crazy lady voice inside my head. Unfortunately, Trevor is far too busy at work to take time off for Thanksgiving. He worked on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, so there was no way we would have been able to make it up there. I really felt the loss too.

~Papa tickling Abby~Everyone hanging out~

This isn't to say we didn't have a fabulous Thanksgiving here. We did. It rocked. I just felt...off the whole weekend. I never knew I was such a Mama's girl. Or addicted to my sisters, all 4 of them. I am in serious withdrawals from lack of time spent with them. Can I just say how sweet they all are? They called me SEVERAL times while they were together so I was able to pretend to be there. I was "there" while all (or most) of the inside jokes were being played out (pray tell) and I was even "there" when bladder control was lost for the first time. I don't think they realize how, thinking of me and keeping me in their idiotic loop (trust me it is), meant. I cried the night I got the "pee" call. I just love them all to death and a little piece of my heart is broken because I couldn't be there. On the up side, I'll get to see them for a week in January when we go to Utah for Tyson's baptism. That trip will have to tie me over until the summer.

~Pre-dinner prep~Trevor surrounded by the ladies (Sunny, Amy and Gloriana)~

On to less pessimistic stories. We did have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Trevor and his cousin Josh, coerced the Don Miles family to come down and spend the holiday together. I have to say there were two little highlights, for me, because of it. First, I got to know Josh's wife, Gloriana, a little better. And I like her. A lot. She cracks me up. Secondly, we got to see Rick, who recently returned from a tour of duty with the Navy. I loved listening to his stories (Singapore rules and Bahrain doesn't) and seeing he and Sunny back together. Definitely something to be thankful for.

~Co-conspirators with a monkey on their shoulders~Trevor checking out B's recent loss of wisdom teeth~

In other news, I turned 31. I'd leave it at that but, I have to say that Trevor pulled through with flowers, sushi (with all the siblings and most cousins), and a movie. A chick movie at that. It made for a great date. Thanks, babe.

~Amy, Sunny, & Josh doing the dishes while Trevor "helps"~

So, I may have missed a couple of pertinent things but, better late than never, people. I truly have so much to be thankful for this year and my three little turkeys are at the top of the list. I love being a mother to them more than they'll ever know, I'm sure. They are my greatest gift. And what would I be without the man in my life. He is what makes me the most happy. Put the turkeys and the man together and I am one ecstatic, and thankful girl. Happy Thanksgiving all!

~Where my gratitude stems from~

A Complete Visual Guide From The Last Two Holidays

I promised Halloween pictures about a month ago. Better late than never, right? I also included our Thanksgiving. We had a blast, good food, good company, great games. Chelsea organized a fun facts game for us. It's surprising how much you don't know about your own family, including your spouse (Trevor's a closet chick movie fan-who knew). Then Ashley created a "Name that movie" game. If you know our family you'd understand why this was a hit. Draw a slip of paper with the title of a movie on it, and give one line from the movie to your team. This group is da bomb when quoting movies. Some were easy, "My lips hurt real bad"! Some were not, "I bet I can still spook you, it's twins". But it was fun to show off our nerdy skills. Enjoy the show. There's a fun post coming up in a couple of days!!! I'll leave you in suspense...