Santa came to our house!

So Christmas was different this year. It was the first time I have ever spent Christmas without my immediate family. It was actually nice being able to wake up in our own house and just do our own thing. Although it was the first time I didn't get up at 5 in the morning to open presents . . . I officially set my record for waking up at 8 am on Christmas Morning. That has mostly to do with my child not waking up till 8 on a regular basis.. ... I guess when she is older we can go wake her up earlier, although sleeping in did make the day go by easier! But it was fun to see Araleigh discover that there were new toys in the living room instead of the ones she's been tired of for the last month. It was pretty funny . . . all she really would say was " Oh . . Oh" in her squeeky voice . . . it was pretty cute (which you will get to see if you watch our video!). We tried to instill in her that Santa came to see her . . . but I am pretty sure she doesn't get it. Anyways, we had a wonderful day and we got some pretty great gifts from each other and our families. We are definitely blessed to have them. Overall it was a great holiday and I hope it was wonderful for every one else! Now its on to 2008 . . . hopefully a year full of resolutions . . . achieved (uuuuueeemmmmm . .. losing weight!) and many more cherished memories with our loved ones and our little tyrant. Well here are some photos and some funny videos of Araleigh that I am sure will get a giggle out of ya!!
.................Enjoy ...........

This was Christmas morning. I guess you could say that she was an extra good girl this year. As you can see Santa brought her one to many presents . . . . but she loves them all and will hopefully enjoy them.

These were at our Christmas Party 2 days before Christmas . . . when Santa came. Araleigh was such a riot it was almost ridiculous!

More Christmas photos . . .

This Video is of Araleigh at our Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas. Santa showed up to give the kids one last gift before he went to pack his sleigh. She was absolutely hilarious. I soon realized that my daughter is definitely Cory's child. She is full of energy, personality and loves to be the center of attention.





This Video is of Christmas Morning. Araleigh was trying to figure out her new kitchen.

Healthiness. . . . what is the meaning of this?

So honestly, I thought that I would write some thoughts about what I have been going through the last 2.5 months. Since I don't write in a journal much I figure I could write on here and print it off later to put in books for my kids. Anyways, I have been through so much unhealthy crap lately and I am starting to wonder what in the world is wrong with me. As some know I am insulin resistant. Which if you don't know its pre-diabetes. Which I am glad I don't have that. So I have had many issues there including medications that absolutely make me sick. Although I was diagnosed about two years ago, I am just starting to control it again. I kinda stopped after I got pregnant because of how sick I was. Anyways, so then almost 3 months ago I woke up one morning with Bells Palsy in my face. WHAT? This has completely been a challenge for me. I absolutely am insecure about stupid things like this and it happens to me. For those who don't know what that is. It is a temporary paralysis of one side of your face, something about the nerve on the brain stem swells and blocks all functionality to that side of your face. So pretty much my whole left side was nonfunctional and unemotional. I had to take tests, a cat scan, and disgusting medications. And now, three months later is starting to slowly go away which it could take up to a year . . . which I will be a bit upset about. I have noticed that I can now smile almost fully though. . .there's just a little limp to it. But it was pretty ridiculous before. Then about 3 days ago, I bent over to pick up my ever so growing non-stop child and my back completely went out on me. So for the next 2 weeks I am not suppose to lift or handle anything . . . really. I am not exactly sure how this is going to come about with a 1 year old child who has become spoiled and I am a stay at home mom so that doesn't mix well with back injuries. . . HONESTLY, what else is going to go wrong. I went to the doctor and apparently I have strained the ligaments or tendons of my spine. . . that he could tell. They couldn't check about a shifted disc cuz its a Saturday and there wasn't a technician in. So I ended up getting THREE gigantic shots in my back . . . which were extremely painful. I said to the nurse "uh . . . I already went through this once . . . don't want to do it again . . . unless its worth it . . LIKE BEARING CHILDREN" anyways, so the third one went in and was the most painful and all the sudden, I turned white and completely went limp and passed out. So I can now say for the first time in my life . . . . I have officially passed out. Weirdest thing ever . . . I could hear and almost respond to my surroundings but like couldn't move. Then I almost threw up . . . . IT WAS HORRIBLE! SO its been interesting because I have been to the doctor so much the last two months that I am getting tired of hearing how its weird I am getting all these issues because I am so young, they all are common in older people not young people . . . . how pleasant. So by the time I am 30 I will have problems of like a 90 year old. CANT WAIT! Anyways, so now I am just waiting for the Lord to challenge me with something else. Holy cow, between me and my husband I am not sure if we can have ANY more bad luck. If you don't know about him . . . well he has way more than me . . . . although most of his aren't physical. We got our car broken into for the THIRD time in the last 2 years which important things were stolen out pertaining to his work which made him stay in Utah for 7 days instead of 2. Then he went down to utah again this week and his eyes were messed up so he took his contact out and it ripped,So . . .he had to make an emergeny stop at the nearest walmart eye center to get a quick exam and RX. . . because he would have been the blind man driving into your car if not. Not to mention the 2 sets of wallets that have meraculously disappeared from his butt pocket the last 4 months. . . in which our business and personal cards have been reordered a total of three times now . . . at least in the last 4 months. ( I won't even mention everything before that!) then on Sunday he decided to come home . . . because of our family Christmas Party and ended up with a flat tire and sitting in Tremonton trying to find ANYBODY to fix the tire on a Sunday. That kid is cursed from Utah! GEEZ . . so my solution is Everyone can pray for us to get our acts together and start being healthy and luckier than we have recently! Oh and since its like Christmas in like 2 days . . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . . . too bad I can't lift any of my sweet presents to rip into . . . . if I get any!!! lol Wish us luck getting through all the stuff that is now and is to be in the near future . . probably!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scarriest thing thats ever happened to me . .

So I thought I would mention a little tragedy we had today, which has made me soooooooooooo grateful for all I have. So I was at my sisters making GOURMET candies (like no kidding . . . it was ridiculous) and I had Araleigh with me of course and she was just playing with the other kids and having a blast when all of the sudden she was there one minute, I turned to wash my hands and when I turned back around . . she was gone and the kids were freaking out. She had fell down my sisters huge flight of stairs. . . like i swear theres like 15-20. I went running over there and saw her little body face down at the bottom. My heart completely stopped. I got to her and she was crying and then all the sudden she turned a funny color and past out. Luckily my sister and her friend whom are both RN's were there to take her . . because I utterly froze I was crying so hard. It was the worst feeling in the whole world. Luckily she is okay and I believe she past out because of lack of oxygen from crying so hard . . . but I honestly can say that though this was a minor thing that happened I cannot even imagine losing a child. I am so graetful for my little ray of sunshine and realized how something could happen at any moment. Wow, what a awakening moment for me. I do know that I haven't been able to let her go since I got home and will probably watch her all night . . . so I guess my message is . . . cherish the little ones and protect them, cuz at a moments glance they could be gone. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh drama!
I definitely learned my lesson the hard way.

ON A BETTER NOTE . . . we did get ALOT of candy made today and I will tell you . . . I AM TIRED. We spent hours making caramel-chocolate covered apples, homemade chocolates, turtles, haystacks, dipped pretzels, and much more. It was ridiculous and crazy time consuming. And tomorrow I get to continue to make banana bread, fudge, yummy popcorn and maybe peanut brittle . . . we'll see. I will say this year I have become betty crocker or something. I am not sure if its quite worth all the hassle . .. . . but I will say this . . . tonight cory and I snuck one of my carameled-chocolate covered apples and BOY WAS IT SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!!!!!! So maybe someone who receives one will appreciate!

Headband Crazed!!!

So I bought Araleigh this cute little outfit that I found at Macy's for $5 and it came with this stupid headband. Well, I put it on her once to keep her never ending CRAZY hair out of her face and she has been in love ever since. For some reason she always has it around her. Its pretty funny really. She is always trying to put in on her head and when she can't get it on she wears it like a purse around her arm. Its so funny how little girls are just dainty like that. Anyways, I caught some pictures of her with her headband on . . . hopefully she doesn't get too attached to where she is wearing it with everything . . ahhhhhhhhhhh.

Rexburg Temple

So we got our tickets for the temple on Jan. 3rd and I am SO excited. I have only been to one other open house (Bountiful) and it was when I was really young so I don't remember anything. Although I get to go to the Temple at any time, its always such a rare thing to actually get a tour of the temple. There are many things in the temple that even us that visit the temple often don't get to see. This will definately be an awesome experience for me because I will be surrounded by my family both active and inactive. My aunt and uncle are coming from North Carolina and not only will they get to come through the temple with us, I have the opportunity to witness my mom and her sister being sealed to their deceased parents, and I might even get to stand in for my sweet grandmother, what a privilege and uplifting experience that would be. I am so greatful for this gospel and the temples that the Lord has given to us to do his work, these temples are our heaven on earth and I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that life goes on. I am grateful for the opportunities that the temple will bring to all those around it. I will be able to be in the temple on the 3rd with almost all of my family, which I have never got to do before and I can't tell you enough how anxious I am for that day. I am excited because although it is not dedicated I know that it will be a spiritual experience for me and my family. Here is a video that I came across that I thought was just humbling and peaceful. Enjoy!

MAKE SURE YOU PAUSE MY MUSIC ON THE BLOG TO GET THE WHOLE EFFECT

My Walking Tornado!

So Araleigh has actually been walking since late October, except she just was lazy and wouldn't do it for more than like 8 steps, because she is a speed crawler and got there faster that way. But about a week ago she finally decided that it was a whole lot easier to carry things while walking then try and scoot them around while trying to crawl. She has been walking and attempting to run everywhere. So I decided to actually document her. At first I was really excited that she was walking but I have soon realized that this is now a curse. She can reach everything on the table and her little hands just seem to touch EVERYTHING. She has also mastered the words mama, dada, bama (almost) and ouwie. I never thought that the cute little sweet voice of a baby saying momma . . would drive me crazy. Now every time she is too lazy to do ANYTHING she yells for momma. I soon have realized by me catering to her every need has created a little monster and she is now officially spoiled rotten. But I have realized my spoiling her is probably going to curse me worse if I keep it up so I am attempting to teach her to fend for herself. One thing that was funny was the other night she was walking around this little shopping cart, and all of the sudden I heard her screaming OUWIE so of course EVERYONE came running to her rescue. And there she was standing in the middle of the hall with the cart knocked over and her hands in the "i dont know what happened" position. I laughed so hard cuz I couldn't believe how spoiled she was. Little Stinker is going to now learn the concept of picking up after herself which requires manual labor on her part! She is officially not a baby anymore . . . :(