Old Fashioned Christmas

Last night for family night we met up with James and Sierra and headed downtown to the museum where they have a fantastic Christmas display for FREE. Creches are on display from all over the world, there are ginger bread houses, and there is even a huge Santa Clause exhibit. SO much fun.

First thing though, we had to drop off letters to the BIG Santa mail box!

You know you live in Idaho Falls when one of the largest gingerbread houses is of the TEMPLE!

After the museum, we stopped over at Maverick for some hot chocolate and then headed out to the town of Iona to see the CRAZY light displays! We had a great time watching the lights that go together with the music on the radio! Pretty amazing!

Such a great night spent together as a family. THESE are the things that I ADORE about the Christmas season. Never mind the fact that I am STILL not done shopping. I actually went shopping tonight for a little while. All was going great until a wave of nauseousness hit me. I got into the car, grabbed a grocery bag and proceeded to PUKE in it. Little did I know there was a FREAKING HOLE in the bottom of it. THROW UP......all over me in the car. Shopping trip over. Come on baby, lets just be friends already ok? I'm so over this.

In other non-vomit related news, THIS boy received the "Spirit of Christmas" award today at school. He has been caught being kind and doing service at this school. He hasn't taken the hat off ever since he got home and that was 4 hours ago. Hehe.

♥♥♥ this time of year!

Parker's party

One word would describe Parker's birthday party last week. SIMPLE. He wanted to go to FatCats and I wasn't feeling up to throwing a grand ol' party so the agreement was made. FatCat's is all the way up in Rexburg so we did have to some commuting to get up there but it was worth the drive!

He could invite 3 friends, we would play games, mini golf, shoot each other in the balladium, eat pizza, have cake, and go home!

YESSS! And, the best part......it was really REALLY fun!!!

His favorite gift would have to be the LAKERS jersey from Grandma LeeLee! He had to wear it the rest of the night and to school the next day. ☺ It's hard being the only Jazz fan in the family.

Happy Birthday Parks!

December 16, 2004

Dear Mr. Parker,

I'm not sure how we got here already but somehow, someway, my tiny little Christmas baby is turning 7 today. You are my sweet, adventurous, and handsome boy. You've ALWAYS had a little tender spot in your heart for your old mom. I can't even begin to tell you how much my heart just leaps for joy every single day I take you to school. You ALWAYS without fail, turn around to wave at me.....not once but usually TWO times. I cherish that little moment every single day as I know it won't last forever.
I love that when we went out of town to Washington DC and left you with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunts and Uncles that YOU of all my boys were the first to crack. You were the first to admit that you missed your mom and dad. You always put on such a strong face but I love that you have a tender heart.
You are SO stubborn. You know what you want and you do whatever is in your power to get it. You are very successful at whatever you put your mind to. I am the mom BEAMING on the sidelines at each of your basketball games. You score so many points that sometimes I get a little embarassed.  ☺ You are SO talented and it is very apparent when you step into your element. I love to cheer you on and I love how you will look over at me on the sidelines and we do the little fist pump to each other.
You are a protective brother. You don't like when people say mean things about either one of them. You do know how to push your brothers buttons though....I'm not going to lie!
It's been a hard week for you this week as you have been fighting off strep throat. Even though I know you are missing so much school I have secretly loved having you home. I'm so grateful that the night that you couln't even swallow at all anymore that you had the faith enough to ask Daddy for a blessing. You are such a good boy. I love that you are apart of this crazy family. You mean the absolute world to me.
 I love you with ALL of my heart.

-Mom

Christmas cookies

I have been kind of a crummy Christmas mom this year. I'm still not even close to being done with shopping and I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to do all of the fun things that we usually do. I think the sickness fog is finally lifting a little bit though. Yesterday I felt good enough to make some cookies and actually make dinner. Nate walked in from work and was like, "O my gosh, what are you doing?"
Haha.

We made our usual Christmas cookies and had fun decorating them.

 Landon took this lovely photo of me:

 And Landon and his little buddy Mason had their last soccer game! They have had so much fun playing together this year. Funny coincidence......Mason's mom is pregnant too and we are both due on the exact same day. What are the crazy odds of that? She is hoping for a boy. I told her if she had a girl and I had a boy we could do a little swap a roo at the hospital. ☺

Mom reaction and telling the boys

For some reason, I can't post my video directly to my blog so you'll have to click on the link to watch.

Mom reaction

 This one is when we told my side of the family. Ironically my mom and I had JUST been talking about the heartache of the past year or so. She gave me a huge hug and told me that things work out and that she thought I was a doing a great job with the boys. Love the mom pep talks. I almost spilled the beans right then!

I gave everyone a small gift wrapped in Thanksgiving paper. Inside was a frame with a picture of the positive pregnancy test and the words, "We're grateful for you and for your prayers......because miracles happen."

If you know my mom, her reaction won't surprise you one bit!!

Hold on to your hats!

After we told everyone we called the boys in and gave them a big puzzle to put together. They were more....confused then anything. Parker later asked, "Mom, are we adopting a baby?"

He remembered a day back in August where I was upset in my room. We sat the boys down and told them that we probably wouldn't have another brother or sister in our family.

Sorry, you'll have to watch it sideways as Nate switched over to recording it from the other angle in the beginning. Anyway, here is the link for it:

Telling the boys

Enjoy!

Oh Baby!

Thanks for all the sweet comments and kind words. We are so over the moon excited about our amazing and unexpected news. I've been in denial about it for some time. I just didn't think that this was going to be in the cards for us but I am so happy about this sweet blessing.

SO, lots to catch up on I guess! I thought I'd answer all of the questions that I have been getting.

When did you find out?
I found out in the beginning of November. I was having to pee ALL NIGHT LONG and I kept wondering if I had been drinking too much water before bed or something. After 3 nights of getting up at all hours I decided to take a pregnancy test. I had an old dollar store test and took it first thing in the morning. 2 lines showed up immediately and I dismissed those results right away. I figured that old test was defective and probably expired or something. I didn't say anything to Nate as he left for work. As soon as Landon and I dropped the kids off at school we booked it over to Walgreens and picked up 3 of the digital expensive tests (because we all know THOSE tests are much more accurate then the crappy dollar store ones....or at least I always tell myself that! ☺) Three digital positive tests later, I couldn't help but fall to my knees in tears. I felt like I was dreaming.

How did you tell Nate?
I figured I was going to be due sometime around the 4th of July. MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY! I went to the store in the afternoon and made our traditional family favorite for the 4th:

Nate was at work late and I had an Activity Day party so we ended up not seeing each other that night until late. I told Nate I had made him a special dessert. He had just indulged in a bowl of ice cream and wasn't too thrilled about another treat. I told him he didn't have a choice in the matter. ☺ When I showed him the cake he was TOTALLY confused. (Of course) He wondered why I would buy blueberries when they are so NOT in season right now. I told him we had a very special reason to look forward to the 4th this year. Once he figured out what I was saying we hugged and cried...cried and hugged.

When are you due?
After our ultrasound a few weeks ago it looks to be July 7th is the day! We saw and heard a strong heartbeat (164 bpm) and everything looked great!

How far along are you?
I am over 10 weeks. I usually don't like to say anything until 12 but I already sent out my Christmas cards and I decided to break the news to extended family and friends in the card. I'll wait until 12 weeks to tell the facebook world.

Have you been sick?
Y to the E to the S. I'm trying so hard not to complain too much though. I know there are so many people who would love to be sick and pregnant and would trade places with me in a heartbeat. It's hard to be a good mom when you feel like garbage but I know this will pass. The house has been a complete mess, it's all I can do to heat up some fish sticks or corn dogs for my kids but I know this phase doesn't last forever. At least when I feel sick I know things are working right. It gives me a lot of peace of mind. One thing that is different this time around is that I am totally sick in the late afternoon and night....not in the morning.

So, how did this happen?
Ok, ok, aside from the OBVIOUS. Our last attempt at fertility drugs started in October when we decided to go down one last and final road before re-evaluating what we were going to more forward with. (Be that adoption, in-virto, or just letting everything go.) I asked Nate to try one last drug that I had read and researched. I feel terrible making him such a guinea pig for this past year. We counted how many shots he received over the course of this experience.....I think it added up to around 50 or so.  He agreed to try this one last thing for at least 3 months and I agreed that I would just back off of all of it and talk again at the beginning of the new year. Honestly, I don't know if this medication worked. I don't know if we will ever really know. We both agree that whatever the case, we had some divine intervention in all of this.

How did you tell the boys?
I have a video clip I will post in a couple of days....along with the video where we told my family. Get ready for a great laugh.

Do you hope it's a girl?
A girl would be great. Another boy would be great. Either way, I will in no way be disappointed.
Although, I can't say the same for Nate. He is CONVINCED this one is a girl. ☺ We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

The absolute best Christmas present in the world.

I have been brainstorming for weeks all of the fun and creative ways to say what I am about to say today.

Then I just figured a picture would sum it up best:

For Christmas we got exactly what we've hoped and prayed for.

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

Baby Starnes #4 due this summer!

We are SO blessed.

It's gingerbread house time once more!

Remember last year's total and COMPLETE disaster????? Refresh your memory here: http://nsstarnesfam.blogspot.com/2010/12/twas-nightmare-of-gingerbread-house.html

I have indeed learned from my mistakes and went ahead and purchased the KIT this year. I was excited. This particular kit had 5 small gingerbread houses. One for each of us and it wasn't overwhelming. The houses were itsy bitsy teeny tiny though.

 Even Jack joined in on the fun.

No fighting, screaming, or crying. A great family night was had by all! Success!!!

Big teeth

My Dallin came home the other day in absolute tears. He got in the car, climbed in the very back and sobbed. "What on EARTH is going on Dal?" I asked.

Through the tears he told me that he didn't want to have BIG TEETH anymore. "Nobody else has teeth as big as me. They are crooked and sometimes kids make fun of me."

Ugh. I felt like I'd been stabbed in the stomach. When I was little I felt the exact same way. I remember kids teasing me and calling me "beaver teeth." I remember my dad telling me I was pretty even with big teeth....and I remember not believing a word of it. My heart hurt for my son. He usually cares less about what anyone thinks about what he does or what he says. It was the first time I had ever seen this self consciousness and it kind of scared me.

I tried to explain to him that all kids go through a time when their permanent teeth come in and they don't quite fit proportionally to their faces. I told him we would get braces when he gets a little bit older. I told him I would talk to dad about it. I sent him in the house and proceeded to call Nate at work.

I had no idea that as soon as Nate would answer I would start to sob. "Dallin needs braces. Kids are so mean. I remember feeling the EXACT same way........."

Nate's response: "Just call the orthodontist. Even if he is too young for braces I think it would probably calm ALL OF YOU down."

I love my straight shooting husband. I love my sensitive Dallin. And I am calling to make a stinking appointment. ☺

Thanksgiving in Utah

Hi there. Remember me? It has been awhile. We're FINALLY up and running again thanks to our friend and neighbor Ben! It's so nice to have friends who understand all things computer. ☺ Feels like I haven't written anything in FOREVER!

We're back from our Thanksgiving in Utah. We had a great time......minus the 24 stomach flu bug that Parker apparently picked up the DAY we left for Utah. He was so kind to share it with MANY family members over the course of the week. Yuck.

The boys and I left a little bit early so we could hang out with EE. My parents and brother came down on Tuesday so we we decided to go over to Tracy Aviary for the morning.

On Thursday, my whole family got together and we took a family picture....or at least attempted to with my not-so-fancy camera. It's SO hard to get everyone together these days!

Later on that afternoon we headed to the Starnes family and spent a wonderful Thanksgiving over there. Lee (as always) did such a fantastic job making sure everything was just perfect.

We played games:

And joined in the madness that IS BLACK FRIDAY!:

We only stayed out until 2 am this year which was actually quite nice. I was liking that the stores opened at 10:00!
We had all sorts of plans to do fun things but with everyone dropping like flies with the Parker FLU....we did a lot of hanging out around the house which was actually quite nice. Saturday night we did go down to the lights at Thanksgiving Point.

We also spent time with life long friends, did some shopping, went out to lunch, and definitely made some life long memories. We have AMAZING families and it isn't very often that we get to see ALL of them on the same trip!

So much to post, yet no internet at home and were still working on getting it up and running soon. I'm getting behind in my blogging and it stresses me out! Hopefully we will get it figured out by the time we get back from Utah next week!
We're off to see lots of family and friends to celebrate the holiday of thanks. We are so blessed and have so much to the thankful for.
Here is the annual Starnes Family 2011 gratitude turkey:

Crazy weekend.

So, what idiot thought that signing up all 3 boys for sports was a great idea? Our lives have been taken over by all things sports, games, practices, driving driving and more driving.

Landon's games and practices are during the week. He LOVES to play with his little buddy and preschool friend Mason. He seems to enjoy waving to us on the sidelines as much as he enjoys playing the actual game. It's pretty darn cute.

Saturday Nate was out of town. Actually he was out HUNTING in the mountains. Yes, you heard me right. HUNTING. He was hunting on HORSEBACK. Anyone seen my husband lately? Surely the California raised surfing guy who hates hurting wildlife wouldn't go out and shoot an unsuspecting beautiful God created animal. Actually, he went with one of the law partners and some friends and THANKFULLY they didn't even see any animals at all. He had a really great time riding the horses through streams and up and over beautiful snow covered mountains. I was secretly a little jealous.

Jealous why? Well, I'll tell you. Nate left me do deal with all the sports by myself! Actually, James and Sierra came down and were ready to help out thank heavens. We had kind of a disastrous day though.

 Saturday morning my phone decided to implode. I had to go to two different stores first thing in the morning and then I was on the phone for over 2 hours getting it up and running again. Then we BLITZED over to the soccer field for Dallin's game only to find out.............

you guessed it. WE MISSED the game. Dallin was SOOO mad at me. He was absolutely hysterical. We were an hour late. I had written the time down wrong. Here is a visual since I wasn't able to get a picture of him:

Yeah, I suck. And because we missed Dallin's game we were now going to be LATE for Parker's game. We missed the whole first half but luckily Parker didn't care. He made up for his tardiness with 10 quick points in the 2nd half. This kid is SO good at basketball it is a little bit embarrassing. He is an absolutely natural and we are definitely going to be sticking with basketball for sure. Last week he scored 24 of his team's 28 points! I kept telling him to pass the dang ball. He would look over at me and say, "NOBODY else knows how to do it RIGHT MOM!"

When I opened the back of my car to get some things for the game my FAVORITE platter came flying out of the car and shattered into a million pieces. I was so bummed about that.

Then we came home and watched BSU LOSE the game against TCU. Kind of a crap-ola type day. We were ready for our HUNTSMAN to get his butt home and make everything better. ☺

2011 Family Pictures

 Sitting fees + new clothes + stress of getting home from games in time, showered, hair combed + candy bribes for good smiles = Priceless pictures that last a lifetime.

Nothing warms my heart or makes my gratitude cup run over quite like seeing the smiling faces of the people that matter the most to me. ☺

Parks sure knows how to work the camera and he STILL refuses to let me cut his hair! I have to say though...its pretty darn cute:

This one would be my fav:

Sweet Dal who was SO incredibly self concious about his teeth. Luckily Amber was SO sweet to him and told him his teeth were cute and needed to be seen! I love that we captured that awkward stage so well. I absolutely LOVE his piercing BLUE eyes too. Dal and I are the only BLUE eyed beauties in the fam. ☺

I'm thinking we kind of look like siblings in this picture. Haha. Funny how you kind of start to resemble each other after so many years.

Those big brown eyes just KILL me!

So handsome:

Parker: The future heartbreaker. I just KNOW it. ☺

And that's it!  Now leave me a comment and tell me which one is your favorite!!