Christmas 2011

We were able to spread Christmas out over all of December this year.  The first thing that we were able to participate in was welcoming Santa Claus to Eagle Mountain, and getting to sit on his lap and take pictures on December 2.  Over at City Center every year, Santa Claus comes to visit.  We welcome him in by singing "Santa Claus is coming to town", and he arrives on one of the Eagle Mountain Fire Engines.
Here are some of the pictures from welcoming and meeting Santa this year.

Mason seriously stole everybody's hearts with his smile and stylish helmet.  The Eagle Mountain royalty were no exception.

Brody sitting on Santa's lap and NOT crying!!  A first for him!

Mason was just enthralled with Santa.

We expected Mason to cry (even though he is such an easy going kid) because of experience with Brody crying, but he stayed happy the whole time.

Brody eating the candy cane he had recieved from Santa.

Eagle Mountain is seriously awesome with holidays and such.  They also got Santa to drive up and down EVERY street in Eagle Mountain and wave and and throw candy to all of the children!  I love where I live!

On December 10, we made our way up to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square.  I love it up there.  It was fun for Brody to ride trax as well as walk by the temple and see all the lights.  He LOVED it!

Brody was so excited to get on the train!

Mason bundled up waiting for the train.

My hot hubby and cute son enjoying the train ride.

Me with my boys on the train.

Brody with the lights.

Mason with the lights.

Family shot.

Of course we needed to get a couple of good shots of the temple.

Another pretty temple shot.

This year was Christmas with the Romig family... but we ended up being able to celebrate with both sides of the family.  Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we were able to go down to Grandma and Grandpa Dowland's Friday night (Christmas Eve's Eve) and spend the night and part of Christmas Eve with them.  Somehow I managed to not get any pictures down there!!  It was wonderful... and we were all spoiled, including the fact that Adam's family moved "Christmas" to "Christmas Eve" for us.  We did all of the traditional things, but a day early.  We were spoiled with stockings, a delicious brunch, and lots of presents.  Thank you Dowland's for shifting everything so that we could celebrate with you!

The reason they shifted everything is because we REALLY want to always have our own Christmas Eve traditions as well as Christmas Eve in our own home.  So, after celebrating "Christmas" down at the Dowland's, we headed home for our own Christmas Eve traditions, which include one present for each of us (pajamas) and one family present (a game OR a movie) that we proceed to enjoy together as a family.

Christmas jammies...

Adam is in his too.

This year the family Christmas Eve gift was "The Polar Express" movie, and we only watched a little bit before we were all falling asleep, so we just turned it off and went to bed. :)

Most of the memories from Christmas morning were recorded in video instead of pictures... but we did get a few pictures of what Santa brought the boys.  We started out Christmas morning like normal, Mason got to go first because he was the youngest.  And Brody waited so patiently on the stairs to come in too. (We knew it would take Mason longer because he had to crawl over to his gift).

Santa's gifts to Brody..

Santa's gifts to Mason.

Christmas was a fun day at home, and then that night we headed in to Murray for Christmas with the Romig's.  Again, no pictures for some reason.  We had a delicious dinner of pulled ham and potatoes. Then we got to work taking turns opening the gifts from Mama and Papa and cousins.  Our family was "almost" complete.  We also took turns skyping with Angie and her family.  It was a really nice night with my family.

Overall Christmas was a long season this year, with the different activities we did, but it still managed to fly by too quickly.

Random Pictures

Here are a few random pictures from December and January...

 

 

Little Brody Surprise

I was in my room at the beginning of December and I heard Brody say, "Mommy, come look!" I got up and followed his voice the the laundry room. This is what I saw when I got in there:

So, we got Mason in on the fun.  Unfortunately, the only pictures of Mason smiling are fuzzy. :)

Back on the blogging train??

Well, I haven't blogged again in almost 5 months, and the last time I blogged I STILL wasn't caught up.  So, needless to say, I have a lot to write to get caught up.  Looking back at what I blogged about, I was caught up through the end of October (with the exception of mentioning the possibility of being done with Mason's helmet.)  So I will start off there again and see if I can't get caught up in the next few days/weeks because we have a bit going on in our life now.  Sorry to those of you who still read my blog.  If nobody reads it, then I am still content trying to get caught up because I print my blog out in a book to use as a little family journal.  (Although it would be nice to know if people ARE still reading my blog, so leave a quick message if you are.)

So, back in November we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.  This year it was technically our year to be with the Dowland's, but Randy and Janet decided to go down and celebrate Thanksgiving with Andy and Natalie in Texas.  Because of that, we decided we would invite Nicole and Naudia to come eat with us, and because it was the "off" year with my parents, we decided to invite them also.  Well, then we found out that Josh and Kami and their kids didn't have plans, nor did my Grandma Romig.  So, my parents ended up inviting us ALL to their house instead of us hosting at our house.  The morning of we found out the Ashley's mom was sick, so Jed and Ash and family were going to be joining us also... so we ended up being a great big group.  It was a lot of fun. I think my boys enjoyed themselves... :)

 But of course, the only picture I managed to capture was my grandma with two of my neices, Ruby and Emma.

Mason's new "hat"

When Mason was a newborn, he would only sleep on one side of his head... and that resulted in a pretty dramatic flat spot.  When we first new about it, I was worried that he would have to get a helmet to correct it.  Now I wonder why I worried so much. 

Clear back in August we went to a Plastic Surgeon that specializes in orthotic helmets to help reshape misshapen heads.  He will give a prescription to get a helmet for anything he deems over a 6 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst shaped head.  Mason was a 7 1/2.  We set up an appointment with the orthotic center to measure his head and send in a pre-approval from our insurance company.  We were told it would take 6-8 weeks.  After weeks of pressing the insurance company, we finally got an approval after 9 1/2 weeks.

We went back in on October 12th to get a mold of his head.  Then we went back on the 27th to pick up our new helmet.  It hit me hard as we were sitting there testing the helmet.  Mason started crying and I naturally bent down and kissed his head, but I wasn't kissing his head... I was kissing the helmet.  I got a bit teary at the realization that natural mommy comforts were going to change. 

The first few nights with his helmet were tough.  He didn't sleep well.  And I felt really bad for him.  But then he got into the groove of wearing it and has been great ever since.  We went back to the plastic surgeon at the beginning of December and he told us it would probably only be 6 more weeks.  He was happy with the progress.  Here's to hoping that we only have two more weeks.  We shall see.  Still kind of waiting on another good growth spurt to fill in the last little bit of flatness.

I have been able to have fun with decorating his helmet though.

Mason the day he got his helmet.

The same day, I decorated it right away.

Go Utes!

Our Christmas candycane.

Mason's birthday theme was "Bubbles and Balls"  We decorated his helmet with a Happy Birthday sign, bubbles, balls, and balloons.

We will see if he really only has two more weeks, or if we will have to endure another 6 weeks after that.  Wish us luck!

Visit to Cedar City

I forgot this visit that we took down south back at the beginning of September.  My cap for one of my root canals had popped loose, so we knew we needed to head down and see our WONDERFUL dentist... also my brother-in-law Dr. Chase Williams.  :)

It was also a good excuse to get to see my sister, Teresa, at 8 months pregnant with twins.  I hadn't seen her for awhile, so I was excited.  I just wish that I had some pics of my visit with her.

Chase, Teresa, Adam and I got a sitter for the kiddos and headed out for a double date.  We went to dinner at Wingers and then to a movie...Contagion.  It was a lot of fun to get out on a double, let alone a date period.  It is very needed.

The next day we had our dental appointments.  I went in first to get my teeth cleaned and then check the cap situation.  Without fail, the teeth cleaning tickled like crazy, but felt great afterward... and my cap situation wasn't great.  It was so stinky when he pulled the cap out of my mouth.  Chase ended up cementing my cap back on for the time being because I didn't have much root to put the post in.  Here's to hoping it lasts a little while. 

Adam got his teeth cleaned and everything seemed to be fine...I think.  I can't remember.

Brody had his FIRST real dentist appointment too!  They had a TV on the ceiling and turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Brody was in heaven.

Halloween 2011

This Halloween, we followed our tradition (that will probably change soon) of going to visit all the grandparents (but we missed Great Grandma Romig and grandma and grandpa Dowland this year).  We had a trunk or treat on Saturday night that was fun to go to.  We had a lot of people compliment our costumes.

Then on actual Halloween, we went to visit Mama and Papa...

Us as s'mores..

Mason made a GREAT marshmallow.

Papa and Mason.

Mama and Mason

Papa and Brody

Mama and Brody.

Then we stopped by Great Grandma Semos' for a quick second, and then headed over to Great Grandma Dowland's for a quick visit.  We decided to drive up by the Draper Temple and then headed home.  By the time we got home it was already bedtime, so we didn't do any more trick or treating at home.  It was a lot of fun to see grandparents, but we may have to shorten our visits or just send pictures in the future so we can have "Halloween" at home. :)

Fall 2011 Dowland Family Pics

Relief Society Women's Choir...

I was called in to the bishop's office in July and was asked if I wanted to and would be willing to sing with a few of the ladies in our ward and a big women's choir compiled together by Saratoga Springs Stakes and Eagle Mountain Stakes.  We would be singing for the Relief Society General Broadcast on September 24.

I was so excited and jumped on the opportunity.  We practiced every Sunday for weeks leading up to it for HOURS.  The very first practice was probably the most memorable for me.  As I walked into the designated church, I heard women singing and it literally sounded like the Mormon Tabernacle.   The spirit hit me like a tall, strong wave.  We weren't late, but most of the women were already there and they sounded like angels. I originally thought that they were playing a MoTab CD for us to listen to, but NOPE... it was the ladies I was going to be singing with.  Our music director was wonderful!  She brought the spirit so strong into every one of our practices and I am so grateful for that once in a lifetime opportunity I had to partake in.

Our dress rehearsal was on the 17th up at the conference center and it was open to our family members to come watch us rehearse.  My family, mom, and grandma were able to make it.