It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love decorating for Christmas just as soon as Thanksgiving is over. We have a fake tree, but there is just something about real trees that I love. Maybe its the smell. With that being said, we trade ever year, so this year we used the fake tree.

We brought up all the boxes and started decorating the house and setting up the tree. Cooper helped me set up the nativity scenes and Clayton had a great time rummaging through the boxes pulling lights and ornaments out. We had a great time listening to Christmas music and getting into the Christmas Spirit.

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad Douglas' home. It was alot of fun. Most of the family was able to make and like always, the food was wonderful. Everyone always pitches in and it makes for a fun day!

I was put in charge of purchasing brussel sprouts for the family. One might think this was an easy assignment, but it wasn't....

1. Brussel sprouts are the Douglas' Family Thanksgiving Favorite side dish. Needless to say, buying a few won't suffice!
2. I had to go to four different stores to find these babies...finally I found them and bought $7 worth of brussel sprouts (last Thanksgiving with the family, I made the mistake of only buying 40 of them and we ran out very quickly; not going to do that again; you can imagine the looks I got....just kidding...everyone was cool.....but marilyn gave me the chance to redeem myself this year and I think I bought enough this go around)
3. I actually think Marilyn likes to give me this assignment because she knows that I don't really care for them, but it makes us all laugh.... I do try them every year in hopes that I might catch the "craze" for them, but I never do....oh well, maybe next year I will come to see the light!
We ate lunch around 2 and then sat down to play a few card games. After games, we pulled out Carrie's awesome fudge and all the great pies. I tried chocolate, which is my favorite, and cream cheese pumpking pie. Clayton loved the pies and Cooper loved the turkey. Later that evening, we went to Steph and Pauls to watch the Aggies beat the crap out of Texas University. This is a family tradition that is so much fun. This year, however, Paul came down with the real flu and Steph also was not feeling well. Go Aggies!

Christmas in Bethlehem

Last week, for our ward Christmas Party, they did a Christmas in Bethlehem. It was kind of neat to see the different little "shops" they set up for bread, meat, and winery purchases.

They also had a little nativity scene set up on stage and Santa Claus came to visit for part of the night. The focus was more on Christ, which made it a very nice and enjoyable evening.

A Day of Life of Grandma Cooper

Last Sunday, my sister, Jocelynn was visiting Grandma and Grandpa Cooper. She had her kids, Tawni and Ty with her. Grandma was sitting there with her legs propped up and she had heating pads on her legs.

Jocie: Gram, what wrong?

Gma: I don't know. Something is wrong with my cock-eyed knees?

Jocie: You mean both of your knees hurt bad enough that you have to put heating pads on them and you don't know why they hurt?

Gma: Well, no I don't know. Oh, jupidee, I was watchin a show on those damn bed bugs that are getting into everyones bedding. That night when I went to bed, I was just crawling. I just knew I had bed bugs in my bed and they were all over me, (grandma has the cleanest house of anyone I know)

Gpa: Yeah, try sleeping with that. She was all over!

Gma: So, I got out of bed the next morning and told grandpa to get out of bed. I've got to strip off all my sheets and blankets. I did lots of laundry that day including Clairs bed and I vaccumed all the mattresses. I had to make lots of trips up and down the dad gam stairs and that's why my knees hurt.

Jocie: You really think you have bed bugs in your bed?

Gma: Well no, but, criminy, they put these damn shows on Tv and then you can't sleep.

This was followed by lots of laughter from Ty, Tawni, and Jocelynn. Gma wanted to know why they were laughing and Ty (9 yrs) says, "cause you just said like 6 swear words, grandma."

Time Out For Women

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went down to Salt Lake to have a little "gettaway" and go to Time Out for Women. Time Out for Women is a day filled with messages of inspiration from respected authors and music artists from Deseret book. Its time spent listening to uplifting talks that help us learn more about others and about ourselves.

My sister is actually that one that called to see if we wanted to go. She ended up getting very very sick and could not come down and join us. We missed her dearly and wished she was with us, but I am glad she feeling better now.

There were many great speakers that were very inspiring and helped me to want to be a better person and a better mom, wife, and friend.

I learned from some of the speakers that:

-its a good thing to have a family mission statement and to give your kids ownership around the house; i need to live in the moment; be the best mom I can be for my kids

-"after all we can do" means after all Jesus and myself can do, NOT after all I can do

-President Monson is a "real, down-to-earth" person just like the rest of us and he truly cares for individuals

- we need to "see a good day", not have a good day

-everyone has trials and you never know what someone else might be going through- be a little more kind

It was alot of fun to spend time with friends. Things I want to remember about the trip: "Five Guys Burgers (lots of fries and good burgers), crazy hotel neighbors keeping Holly up till 4 am, sparkling cider and lots of pictures, old homeless Indian in Burger King asks Amy what tribe she was from and she wanted to answer Mannaseh but instead bought him breakfast, passing chocolate and candy around during speakers; jacqui gettting sick; eating pizza at Red Rock Cafe; and driving home in snow storm;

Clayton 15 months Old

Clayton is not the best eater in the world. In fact, most days, I am not quite sure what to feed him. Its hit and miss with him. One day he will like the food and then next day he won't. Anyway, Bryce and Cooper love corndogs from our local gas station and so one day I got one for Clayton too and he loves them also. I usually help him with the meat, but its cute to watch him try to eat it. I have yet to mention that Clayton started walking when he was 13 months old. He started off pretty slow but seems to be picking it up. He takes tiny little steps and likes to wobble back and forth like a penguin.

This past week, Clayton's third tooth popped through. It is crazy that he only has three teeth, but I guess it will help with less cavities in the long run.

Clayton loves to throw things down our banister all the time. He goes to the "craft" drawer, pulls out paints and brushes and markers and tosses downstairs. He loves to play in the dishwasher and lately I have been finding forks and spoons all over the house. His favorite game is taking the little Electrosol dishwashing packets and putting them in my pots and then taking them out, over and over again.

He is a very clingy little guy, so I can think of lots of fun things to keep him entertained for a minute or two. He loves to brush his teeth in the morning, pull my shoes out of my closet and rummage through my bathroom basket under the sink.

He loves taking baths, so we do that everyday. In fact, the other day, I had gotten him out and dressed him in his pajamas. I left the room for a second and when I came back he was in the tub with Cooper.

This morning at 6:30 am, I woke up to Clayton coughing uncontrolably and went in to see what was wrong with him. He was having a real hard time catching his breath. He sounded like a duck. It really scared me, so I picked him up and took him into Bryce. We decided to take him into instacare. The doctor said he has crupe. He didn't have a fever and he was happy. The doctor gave him some steroids, so hopefully he will be back on his feet soon!

Cooper's Craziness

You make me happy because:

*you love it when I volunteer in your classroom...you just light up when I come into the room...i love to be able to go and see that things you do and make at school
*you come home from school one day and tell me right away that there is a note in your bag from me. it reads, "Cooper pushed a student down at school today." Cooper had to sign his name and bring it home to show me....he is so honest and truthful and I love that about him.

*the first thing you tell me when I pick you up from school everyday is whether you had to put a marble in the jar or take a marble out of the jar

*you are so good at sucking all the air out of a room...for instance, you came home from school one day looking like this, and I asked you what happened. You say, "Tayson pushed me down at recess, but we were just playing. I couldn't breath for a while and then I could." When Cooper really gets hurt, he looks like he is going to pass out because he doesnt breath for a few minutes.

*you are so tender and loving to your brother. You take such good care of him and you let him tackle you and play with you all the time. You are always willing to share with him.
*you are so thoughtful of others....we were in the car heading to Logan when Cooper said, "You know Uncle Sean? Well, I am so proud of him, because he had a baby. Sean and Kellye have been so lonely for so long but now they have a baby to love." He then proceeded to call Sean and tell him about it.

*you say the best prayers of any kid I know...last week there was a blizzard that was moving in and we were driving in the car back home...I knew Jacqui and Jared were headed right into the storm on their way to CA, so I asked Cooper to say a prayer for them...this is how it went....."Dear Heavenly Father, and thank you that Jacqui and Jared could be safe in the blizzard and thank you that dad could drive safe in the blizzard, and thank you that we could get our candles and flashlights ready for the blackout, and thank you for all that you do for us...In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

*you are learning how to read and you are picking it up so quickly....I love it when we drive down the road and you start telling me how to spell different words....you are so smart and are so excited about reading right now

*you were so excited to learn that your tooth was loose after you bumped your head on something and your teeth smashed together....three days later your tooth fell out and you were so happy

*you love it when I read books to you every night and then you run and jump into my arms from off your bed...its followed by a kiss on my cheek because you are too big to kiss me on my lips

*you randomly tell me that you love me or dad or Clayton

*you love to tell me things about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost

*you are you : even if it means you think it would be funny to dress up like a girl with Jaxson, Reese, and Landon...then you tell me later that you just wanted to make everyone laugh