This past year has just flown by for me. I remember one year ago today I was cleaning…or rather nesting in preparation for Marriah to come, I even informed her after I was finish folding the last of the laundry and making sure everything was spick and span that now she could come. Little did I know as I was telling Tyler all that I accomplished and feeling it was fruitless because she was never coming that she was in fact on her way and two weeks early. I remember going to bed that night and for the third time in a row having my water break but doubting it like I do every time ( you would think I would learn). After the pain came I knew it was real. Early the next morning came our sweet little Marriah Bliss into the world changing it for the better just like her brother and sister before her have.

Marriah on her birthday

Marriah at 3 months

6 months - Look she can now touch the ground!

9 Months- Apparently started feeding herself

Marriah at one year- picture by Jake

I love this last picture it shows her personality so well- happy and full of life. Our sweet little girl is walking now… only in spurts but its walking. With only two teeth she manages to feed herself which includes hair and all and loves getting dirty. I think my favorite thing about Marriah is how easily she puts up with all of us and is patient with us. She sure is a sweety and I am glad she is mine. Happy Birthday ‘Riah!

Sometimes I wonder what Ty teaches the kids while I am gone. I seem to come home and find evidence of things that I know I am going to have to undo sometime or another. This last time the evidence was a little easier to spot since it was captured on film or memory card rather. The first picture makes me think maybe the Word of Wisdom will have to be our next FHE lesson…..

smokin' a Stogie

Last, who in the world comes up with the idea of making telephone book page angels?!?

See what fun dad is

The good thing is the kids are happy and Tyler knows to clean it all up before I get home if he wants a happy wife so I guess it isn’t all bad.

I went to Megan’s blog and in order to win I vowed I would post this so…..

The first THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade GIFT from me during this year. When and what will be a SURPRISE. There’s a small CATCH though… You need to post this on YOUR BLOG then come back and leave a comment, telling me you’re IN. Remember, only the first three comments RECEIVE a GIFT.

Marriah crawling with a Circus Peanut stained shirt.

Tuesday I was down in the basement. I brought Marriah with me so she could play with the toys down there while I was getting stuff done. Elizza followed us and they were content to play with the toys for about 5 minutes and then they decided to be right where I was, which normally I like- I love having my kids at my feet that is why we wanted to stay with a modest sized home. Anyway, back to the subject. They were playing with the weights in the basement when all of the sudden I hear one of the metal 2 1/2 pound weights hit the floor followed by Marriah crying. From her cry I knew she had gotten hurt but the intensity of the cry made it sound like it was no big deal at first and then it suddenly got louder and more desperate. I looked over to see Marriah’s right thumb dripping in blood. With all my experience in wound care and all of the first aid classes I have taken you would think that I would know how to handle the situation but as soon as I saw the blood on my baby I lost my mind. I raced up stairs with her and ran it under cold water and tried to keep a cold wet cloth on it but she would have none of that. The blood kept coming and my mind was blank as to what to do. I called Tyler and with all the screaming in the background and my hysterics he couldn’t understand what I was saying so thinking that I just wasted valuable minutes trying to tell my husband the problem I said some not nice things and hung up (sorry Ty, like I said I was out of my head).  He being the forgiving  man that he is called me back and still no matter how I said or spelled it he could not seem to figure out what was going on. Finally, he understood me and calmly said, ” Oh, just call the doctor; I am sure it isn’t that bad” (or something to that effect). I mean come on folks my baby is dripping blood all over the floor and he is saying not to worry?!? Luckily, by then the Spirit had whispered to go to the doctor and I was on my way. Still out of my head, I know it wasn’t me driving because the roads were covered in ice and I was going a little too fast for conditions and we arrived safe. When we got to the urgent care, Marriah had smeared blood all over her face and drops of blood had covered her blanket. As soon as they saw her they rushed us right back. I remember signing my name to a lot of papers so hopefully they aren’t going to take our home tomorrow. Immediately they took x-rays and found that the top of the three bones in her thumb was broken length-wise straight through and so they numbed her up and took off the nail finding that she not only broke the bone but the tip of her thumb could have been folded back, it was cut that much. So she got five stitches as well. I asked the doctor if the nail would grow back and he said it would but there was a chance of it being a little deformed.  Of course I was bawling thinking “oh no, now the kids at school will make fun of her.” They wrapped her thumb up and instructed me that it had to stay clean and to wash it several times a day to make sure it doesn’t get infected and that a scab doesn’t form over the stitches otherwise when they take the stitches out in a couple of weeks it could open it up again.

Marriah sporting her new medical accessory-pink her signature color.

Sorry it is kind of gross.

My poor little Marriah just cried and cried from the time it happened until we got home and I got to hold her until she fell into an exhausted sleep. The bad part is is that lately she has been crawling a lot and feeding herself certain foods and now for fear she might damage the bone more or cause infection, I am afraid to set her down. Oh well, I guess the good in this is that I get to sit and hold my baby more.

Tyler and I decided on a whim to take the family and go to Salt Lake Tuesday. We woke up early and headed out. About Pocatello I decided to jump in the middle seat and feed Marriah some cereal and since it is easier to sit back there than try to maneuver up to the front I just stayed. Tyler had been taking several work related phone calls all along the way so he was occupied up front anyway. We stopped to get gas at a station just outside of Ogden and Jake announced he had to go to the bathroom I told him to get out and have his dad take him.  Tyler was on the phone so I decided to take him instead. After the bathroom break I was looking at getting some milk for the kids and sent Jake out to get my purse or some money from Ty. I looked out the window and notice the car wasn’t by the pump so I walked out searching the parking lot for  the van and it was gone.  Just then I looked up the road in time to see Tyler turning onto the on ramp of the interstate.  I said to Jake, “Looks like Dad just left us, I wonder how long it is going to take him to notice that he left half of his family!?!” Jake just broke out in tears and sobbed, ” Now we can’t go home!” For a brief second I was angry that he would leave us but then all of the sudden I just busted out laughing saying to Jake, “ Ithink that is probably the dumbest thing your dad has ever done.”  I kept thinking, I wonder if he is coming back or do I have to call my brother who lives just down the street to come and pick us up?  Finally after about 5-7 minutes Tyler comes rolling down the off ramp toward the gas station by then I was laughing so hard I was crying. Jake jumped in and kind of gave him a hard time but all I could say was, ” you know my parents had eight kids and I was never left once and you just left half your family. I mean really Ty, I am huge how could you not notice I was there?”  Then I asked him, ” When did you notice I wasn’t there?” He said Just as he was about to get on the ramp he turned around  to ask me something and realized I wasn’t there and he said to Elizza ” Where’s your mom …and your brother?” Elizza then noticed her mom was missing and started to cry. Luckily, at the first exit he was able to turn around and pick us up. We sure had a good laugh about that.  Welcome to my life being married to Tyler- it is never a dull moment.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately so I thought I would blog about it. My childhood is full of wonderful memories especially Christmas memories. I remember on Christmas Eve, Miranda, my sister that shared a room with me, and I  would deep clean our bedrooms to get ready for all the fun things we would receive the next day.  I know that doesn’t sound like fun but somehow that is the only time it was fun maybe it is because it would keep us busy and make the day go faster. While we cleaned we would listen to Christmas stories and music and talk about what we would get the next day. Then my older brothers would take us to the movies and afterward we would go to dinner to give my parents time to get things wrapped and ready for Santa. When we got home we would start our Christmas program. We would drink hot cocoa out of our personalized Santa’s mugs, snack on ritz crackers, summer sausage and cheese and play games as a family.  Then we would dress up to play our parts in the story of the first Christmas.

Now our kids act out the first Christmas.

As my Dad would read it out of the scriptures we would act it out. Earlier that month we drew one of our siblings names, with seven brothers and sisters this was easier on all our budgets, but it also gave us a chance to really focus on the person whose name we drew. We would be a lot more attentive to their interests, their personality and their desires so as to pick the perfect present for them. 

Its perfect!

 I always loved my gift and it did seem very perfect for me. Then off to bed we would go to what seemed like the longest night of the year. Waiting until finally the sandman would reach you only to wake up to early Christmas morning. We would run and jump on our parent’s bed and they would send us in to brush our hair and teeth to look nice for the pictures that would be taken.  Then we would line up either oldest to youngest or vice versa, which didn’t matter much to me since I was one of the middle children, and we would walk into the front rooom to find gifts everywhere.  My mom always tried to have us open one at a time, but like I said we have a big family, and after a while it took too long and  in our frenzy paper flew everywhere. In our stockings we would find a small box of cereal to tied us over until Christmas dinner that afternoon. I loved it. The days leading up to Christmas were just as fun. I remember one time going up into the woods with my Dad and brothers and sister while my Mom sat in the car with the kids that were too young to look for our Christmas tree (this was before the days of my Mom’s allergies). We looked forever, walking past some of the prettiest tress only to bring back a Charlie Brown tree to hang our ornaments on. My Mom would give my Dad a hard time and he would always say,  “I felt bad for it.” It makes me smile just thinking about it.  I loved those times. Of course I am older now and have children of my own so our Christmas Eve program has been changed to whenever the family can get together. Now Santa and occasionally Mrs. Claus comes to give the grandkids gifts as well as  us older kids.

Santa and Mrs. Claus- 2005

We have changed our tradition this year instead of each person drawing a name, it is now couples draw couples names and kids draw kids names. We still play games and now instead of going to a movie we do other activities  and eat a big dinner as a family.

Coasting behind the car-2007

 Now that I am older I have another family to spend time with and enjoy their traditions and experience the fun things Tyler grew up with.

Poppers on Christmas Eve.

I know when the time comes we will take a little from each of our families and make it our own and I will be interested to see how our children do things with their own children.

I hope each of you have a Merry Christmas.

I was reading Megan’s blog and although she didn’t tag anyone I thought I would take her up on her invitation tag. This tag asks you to go to your fourth picture folder and fourth picture in that folder you are to post and blog about it.
Well so here is what I came up with:

I made this cake for Jake’s first birthday. Actually it is the first cake I ever decorated so I am pretty pleased with it. It is not professional by far but it is the cake I caught the cake decorating bug on. This is obviously his pre- monster truck stage. It is supposed to be an airplane that says “Jacob Air” on the top. It has cloud cupcakes surrounding and a sun.

That day we had my family and Tyler’s family over for cake and ice cream. It was fun. I remember crying all day because he wasn’t a baby anymore. I kept thinking, ” Where did the time go?  How did he grow so quickly?” Little did I know that it was just the beginning of a trend and that time would always fly by and I just need to enjoy the ride.

This picture was taken in our first home. Ironically enough I was just looking at pictures of that house when we were building it and thinking how much I miss it and the simplicity of the life we had there. I love our home now and the way things are now, its just nice to reflect back on life and enjoy the the different stages you had to go through to get to where you are now.

Now I also extend the invitation to anyone who wants to join in on the fun. It is interesting to see what you come up with and reminisce.

Konnichiwa! Elizza in Japanese home.

Jacob Pan in England.

Jake and Elizza in Germany

One of my favorite pictures- Elizza in England

Marriah teaching good oral hygiene

Pres. Marriah in the Oval office-now that's more like it.

  President Ty or King Tyler the first, which one will it be?

 Jacob and Elizza in the Participlay. Jake was the duck and Elizza the lamb. Jake did great joining the group but Elizza liked sitting next to the witch that was supposed to be ostracized by the rest of the animals in the forest. It was sweet, I guess she didn’t like seeing her sit alone.

Marriah and I sitting on grandma's lap

 After the Treehouse Museum we checked into our hotel in Layton and headed around the corner to Chuck E . Cheese. For you Utahans this may be a regular occurrence but we aren’t so lucky in Idaho so this was our first time there and we loved it. I think Tyler and I had more fun playing the games than the kids did.

Elizza- future back seat driver

Jake giving Tyler a run for his money.

Hugging Chuck

Marriah and Jake loved hugging Chuck but Elizza was afraid of the overgrown rat and I don’t blame her one bit. After a few hours at Chuck E. Cheese we decided to got back to the hotel and swim before the pool closed and that is where the real adventure began, but I will let Tyler blog about that. (Note to readers it is not Ty’s bottle trick). The next day we enjoyed time with my family and watching the priesthood in action. It was a great trip we had a lot of fun and great memories were made.

Now this may seem lame but Ty and I don’t go on very many vacations due to lack of fun funds but luckily we were forced to go to Logan earlier this month to my younger brother’s baby blessing. It was so nice to get out of the house after being stuck in for so long. We drove into Logan taking a sort of scenic tour which this time of the year was well worth it.

I love how the farms look like a quilt.

The first place we stopped was the Pepperidge Farm factory and that is always nice. However, this time we walked in right after the person who took the last of the Milanos. I thought Tyler was going to either freak out at me for being so slow or tackle the woman. Weird thing I ran into my first companion ( or mission mom we called our trainers) while there. I think I was more excited to see her than she was to see me. Which was actually a surprise since I thought we had worked out our differences. Oh well. 

Then we went to  Gossner Foods were Tyler and Jake looked like he was in heaven with all the free samples of cheese and milk. At Gossner Foods they sell milk that you don’t have to refrigerate and it is perfect for food storage. They have plain milk as well as several different flavors such as root beer, mango, banana and the classics- Strawberry and Chocolate. We left with a couple of flats of milk for our food storage and a few bricks of smoked cheese- our favorite. 

Later we went to the Logan Temple, not inside,  just drove around outside, We stopped to let the kids roll down the steep hill and they loved it…well Jake did anyway, Elizza was freaked out she got wet grass on her hands.

Jake rolling down the grass hill.

What a woose.

 Its a beautiful temple with lots of character in more ways than one.

Logan Temple

Sign by temple says: Thou shalt not park here

Building that housed the Copper Mill Restaurant

neat little gallery

I know it sounds like all we did was eat but Logan is known for their Food tour. So to work off all those treats we ended the day with swimming. The kids loved this part the best.

Growing up my mom used to sew our costumes and we used to dress up in themed costumes like one year we were soda pops, another year my dad was the bun, my mom was the hamburger and we were the toppings, one time we were playing cards, but my favorite memory of the costumes my mom came up with was my dad was Snow White and we were the seven dwarfs. Well I always had high hopes that when I had my own family I could continue on the tradition.  Everything was set for my theme costumes for this year  Marriah was little Miss Muffet, Elizza was Little Bo Peep, Ty and I were Jack and Jill and then there was our one exception who took all the fun out of my ideas and traditions by dressing up in scrubs and being a doctor although if you asked him he would tell you he was a monster truck doctor and wouldn’t be anything different even though I did everything to convince and bribe him to go along with the family and be a nursery rhyme character. Oh well, we had fun all dress up going to our Neighborhood Halloween Party, Melaleuca’s trick or treat day at their office, Ward trunk or treat and regular trick or treating to the empty nesters and widows in our ward. It was neat how grateful the widows and empty-nesters were that we stopped we told them we would stop for free candy anytime. It is sad how many don’t get visited anymore, they would say how years ago they would have tons of trick-or-treaters and now they only get a few and how they miss seeing all the kids in their costumes. We decided even though it is a hassle to get the kids in and out of the car and brave the cold and rain it was worth it to visit with people and make them happy- oh and get more candy, seems like because they don’t get many that stop they buy better candy like the mini candy bars and cans of pop. Needless to say we got tons of candy.

Little Miss Muffet not scared of spider after all.

Elizza dressed in childhood doll dress.

Monster Truck Doctor to the rescue