Christmas

Oh how I love Christmas! I thank my mother for that. I love it when Santa comes to town. You see, Santa always waits until the children are in bed and then fills their stockings full of fun presents and candy and leaves out their biggest present right in front of the tree, and then he leaves. And every year (as expected) all the young children . . . and older children . . . wake up around 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and creep downstairs to see what Santa has left. Every year growing up we would wake up early and would quietly go downstairs and get our stockings and creep upstairs and open up the gifts from our stockings together showing each other the fun things that we received and then wait until morning time to wake up our parents to open the rest of our gifts. It was always so exciting. And Santa did this until we left the house or got married! Yes, it's true . . . the last Christmas I was home, while engaged to Lamon, I remember waking up in the early morning hours with my sisters and creeping downstairs to see what Santa had brought. So of course now with kids it is even more fun, only they aren't old enough to want to wake up early and go see what Santa has brought them, so I of course woke them up as soon as I woke up because "I " was so excited!! There are so many fun years ahead!

Some of the highlights of this Christmas were:

5. On Christmas Eve we went to the Barksdales house where John and Dave are residing while Grandma and Grandpa Barksdale are on a mission, and we had a party. John was determined to make Ada walk, and by the end of the night . . .

John has some type of magical touch because she hasn't done it since!

4. Of course it was wonderful to watch the kids open their presents on Christmas morning! After every present Drew would say, "My 'every' own . . . this" or "my 'every' own that." We kept telling him, "No Drew. It's my 'very' own this." But of course Drew knows everything, and it was so cute anyway we just left him alone. So you can blame us for his improper use of the English language!


3. For the gift exchange on the Mack side of the family, they decided to give meaningful gifts this year that took thought and not so much "money." Somehow we missed this memo . . . and we came with a couple games bought at the last minute, but it was so neat watching everyone else give their gifts. They were so sweet! I was loving watching the love between each family member as they gave their gifts. It was so wonderful, when they told us we hadn't received our gift I didn't even realize it because I was enjoying the exchange between everyone so much. It made me want to do better, and put more thought into my gift giving next year. Todd had our name and he drew us a picture of Mount Timpanogos. It was so awesome.
How cool is that?










2. The night before Christmas Eve we aked Drew, "Drew . . . who is going to come tomorrow night? . . . ) Drew turned to us and raised his eyebrows and said, " . . . Jesus?" It was a sweet moment where we realized that he had more spiritual things on his mind! It is wonderful how kids can put your mind in focus sometimes!

1. I was pretty sad that on Christmas Eve we didn't get to sing, because anyone in my family "should" know that this is the most important part of Christmas! I love it when my family gathers around the piano and sings every Christmas song in the hymn book and then just for the pure enjoyment of it starts to sing just about "every" song in the hymn book after we're done. It is kind of hard though when the amount of babies in the family now outnumbers the adults! So I made my siblings promise to sing with me on Christmas night after my kids were in bed. Sue, Dave and their significant others, Dustin and Ariel, were nice enough to help me with my Christmas wish, and came over and sang. We sang the Christmas hymns and then started making requests on different hymns. We were kind of being silly and laughing a lot while singing the songs, and I wasn't feeling like we were really singing praises like we should. I made the request to sing "I believe in Christ" wanting to really think about the words and I made it about half way through the first verse and balled my eyes out throughout the rest of it. Oh how I love that song! This was the best part of Christmas for me. I have a strong testimony in my Savior. And of course my siblings have lived with me long enough to know how I am, and they are way past the point of getting embarrassed by me when I get emotional!

Let it Snow!!!!

It's been a few years since we have lived somewhere where it snows, and we are loving living here right now with all of this snow on the ground! It is awesome. I was a little worried that I would miss St. George in the Winter, but not so! I love the snow. It has been so much fun, and the kids have been having a blast! I have even been driving around in it, and I am doing pretty good so far. I got caught in a pretty white knuckle storm about a week ago, and I did pretty good. I was pretty proud of myself. But the funnest part of the snow is playing in our big backyard in it. The other day Lamon shoveled a ton of snow on top of our slide in the backyard, and made a big snowslide for the kids to slide down. We also played Fox and Geese which is a game that my Dad would play with us in the snow when we were kids. It was so fun. We were laughing pretty hard while chasing eachother around. It's fun to laugh and play like a kid sometimes. I'm glad Lamon will do it with me!!

Santa Came to Town!

We had a visitor last week! Santa came to our house a couple days before Christmas. He told the kids that the reindeer were still at the North Pole getting ready for the big trip around the World. It was fun. The kids were pretty excited.

I think there is rock climbing in Ada's future!

Bitter Sweet Birthday

Okay, I'm a little behind in my blogging entries. So to backtrack a few weeks . . .
My birthday was on the 22nd of November, and there was mixture of joy and sadness this year. All I wanted this year for my birthday was for BYU to kill Utah. That's all. Was that really too much to ask? Apparently it was. Obviously they weren't thinking of me and my emotional stability on my big day as they lost miserably. I was quite proud of myself though. I didn't cry, and I was able to converse with Lamon the rest of the night which is better than I have done in the past when BYU has lost to Utah. Oh well, I'm not bitter. I was thinking about writing Max Hall a letter explaining that he should have kept me in mind before he decided to throw a bazillion interceptions . . . but I have since then been able to forgive him . . . :) I feel bad Hall had such a bad game. He is so great. Anyway, I'm over it. I'll be a BYU football fan until the day I die!
To make up for the way my birthday ended on Saturday, my family came over and celebrated with me. And honestly, who could listen to my families rendition of "Happy Birthday" and not have a splendid day?

Feeling Sassy!!

A couple weeks ago Lamon and I were watching something downstairs after the kids went to bed, and he randomly turned to me and said, "You should cut your hair." I started laughing and was like, "Ya sure . . . are you serious?" It's a well known fact that boys almost always prefer long hair, so I was certain that he was joking. He assured me that he was serious, and it didn't take long to convince me! I started asking people what they thought about the idea, and it was an overwhelming response of "Don't do it!" Almost everyone I asked thought that I would look better with long hair.
Well, I'm sorry for all of you that warned me against it, and will be mourning the loss of my hair . . . but every once in awhile a girl just needs to feel sassy! The best way I know how to do that is to chop my hair off. So I did. I went to a girl that cuts hair in my ward and I told her, "I don't care what you do, I just want something sassy!" And there you go.
I wouldn't necessarily call my hair sassy, but it's a change and I am having fun with it. I'm sure in a couple weeks I'll want long hair again. Isn't that how it goes?
Well at this time I'd like to take you all on a trip down memory lane. I think this will help all the mourners remember that hair is always changing and will always grow back. Wouldn't it be scary if it didn't? Just so you know, I felt pretty sexy in every one of these pictures. I am glad I had such a high self esteem at these times in my life!!!!!






The Mullet (Even with the Mullet you have to admit I'm cute)


















The Bull Cut (Still feeling sexy as you can see by the dress)








The Bangs!! (No explanation needed!)


















The Punk Rocker Hairdo (Still one of my favorites, too bad Lamon doesn't like it!)



















No Hair!!!!!!!!
Liz and I would both agree this was a time that we were the most confident in our lives! There's something about having no hair that really helps you forget about your looks, and find out other cool things about yourself! Not that I'd recommend shaving your heads, but it's fun if you ever have to!!

Our little bendable boy

I close my eyes for just one second and . . .

I am not usually a mother who sleeps a lot on the job, but a couple days ago I was just wasted. I laid on the couch and closed my eyes for just a second and when I came to Ada and I were adorned with these lovely smiley face stickers. The things my boys will do . . .:) I thought it was pretty funny though, and Ada didn't seem to mind. I think they were just rewarding us for being such a wonderful mom and sister.

Husband Tag

Okay I think this is the first tag that I have ever done, but I couldn't resist this one!

What is your husband's first name? Lamon
How long have you been married? For about 5 years and 5 months
How long did you date? Lamon tries to claim 3 or 4 months, but it was less than 2 months before we got engaged. We were engaged for about 5 months though.
How old is he? 28
Who eats more sweets? No contest on this one. That would be me!
Who said "I love you" first? Lamon
Who is taller? Lamon, but not by much. Our kids have no chance.
Who is a better singer? I think we are both pretty dang good. Lamon can sing higher than me though which is quite intimidating!! My family thought Lamon was pretty mellow until he randomly joined me as a soprano in the Hallelujah chorus one year, hitting all the high notes.
Who is smarter? Lamon would say me, but I would say him. I am book smart, but Lamon can fix just about anything. And when it comes to common sense . . . I am not quite there!
Who does the laundry? I do. Sometimes Lamon will move the folded clothes from the bed to the floor though when he wants to sleep . . . :)
Who pays the bills? I do. Lamon works hard making all the money though. I just manage it.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Lamon
Does he snore? Sometimes Lamon snores. When he is stressed though he talks in his sleep! I have some great stories about that! One time Lamon woke up and was kissing his pillow. I nudged him and said, "That better be me your kissing!" :)
What does he do in his spare time? When Lamon has spare time he wants to work on something! He likes to work on the yard, wash the car, and build things. He has made us all sorts of beautiful log furniture. I love that Lamon is so handy! I certainly am not.
Who mows the lawn? Lamon
What is his favorite candy bar? I don't know, but he was pretty mad at me on Halloween when I ate all of the Heath bars out of our ginormous bag of candy.
Who cooks dinner? Both. Lamon is the better cook hands down. He has mastered the Dutch oven and is great at grilling things. I always need a recipe, but Lamon just goes to town. He's fabulous!
Who drives? Lamon. I'm just proud of myself for driving period! I've come a long ways since Mr. Roland kicked me out of the car and told me I was the worst driver he had seen in 27 years!
Who is the first to say they are wrong? Definitely me. Only because I'm the only one who is ever wrong. I don't know how that happens but . . . I am pretty quick at admitting it!
Who kissed who first? Lamon tried one night but missed and hit the side of my lip! I went inside and told everyone, "I think Lamon just tried to kiss me, but I'm not sure." Lamon thought I dodged it and the next time we went out Lamon asked me if I was waiting until the alter to kiss. I assured him that I wasn't, and that night he asked me if he could kiss me and he did. It was my first kiss, and I was really bad at it!
Who asked who out first? Lamon asked me out first to a BYU football game.
Who wears the pants? Lamon and I always joke about how we both run around without our pants on most of the time. We both wish one of us would just buck up and wear them! We are pretty relaxed people.
Does he say he loves you everyday? He surely does.

Lamon is the most amazing husband. I think anyone who knows me would agree that I can't stop talking about how wonderful he is. I am always randomly telling Lamon how wonderful he is. He is always like, "Mary you are so cheesy!" But I never want him or anyone to ever doubt that I love his guts!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I tag Katie, Kate, and Brenda.

A Visit to the Bean Musuem . . . to see trains?

Liz and I decided that it would be a lot of fun to take our kids on a little field trip of sorts. We are always just hanging around the house and we decided that we needed to be brave and take the kids somewhere. Well we decided to go to the Bean Museum. What kid doesn't like the Bean Museum?! It took us a while to round the kids up, get them ready and out the door . . . but we went and it was a lot of fun. My favorite part was watching Liz mimick different animal poses. As you can see in the picture below she is pretty good at it. Our kids are so lucky to have parents like us. We are so embarrassing . . . I mean cool! As soon as the kids walked into the museum they were excitedly running from animal to animal. I personally wanted to read all of the info provided for each animal, it's pretty interesting; but the kids attention spans were a little short, and they just wanted to run from one exhibit to the next. That is until they came to their favorite exhibit. They found one that really caught their attention, and they didn't want to leave it!!! Check out the video below, and you will see the most exciting exhibit at the Bean Museum!

Slow Down Ada!!

Ada is continuing to be a busy child! She is always wanting to be moving or grabbing something. It's hard to keep up with her! It doesn't help that I live most of my life in a slight daze! The other day I was changing Ada's poopy diaper, and I don't know how long it was before I realized it . . . but I looked up and Ada was waving her dirty diaper in my face! I don't know how long it took me to realize she had her diaper in her hand or how I missed intercepting it before it happened . . . but I'm telling you you have to be fast with her! About a month ago, while Lamon and I were helping the boys get their pajamas on, all of a sudden Ada crawled into the room. I was like, "I didn't bring Ada up here . . . did you?" . . . "Uh, no." Ya she crawled up. Gates have been on both sets of the stairs since then.

Trains, Trains, Trains!

I don't know if everyone was aware of this or not, but my children are obsessed with trains. If you were to come to our house on any given day you would be able to hear the sweet sound of my childrens voices mimicking train sounds as they play. Okay, so not so much sweet sounds, but more like high pitched squeaky voices and a lot of crashing sounds. That accompanied with an overusage of the word, "No" and "Mine!" They play well together for a good portion of the day but it seems like I've been opening a lot of cupboards in our kitchen lately with a forgotten train at the top from an earlier squabble where Mom or Dad had to confiscate the item of contention. It's amazing how many trains we have here!
Anyway, we have been trying to help the boys behavior by rewarding them with pennies when they are good and the kids have been really getting into it. Drew wanted to get a Thomas the Train movie with his money and he saved up his pennies. We found one for a dollar at Savers and he was super excited. It was fun to see him give the cashier his money that he had saved.
Well, Drew woke up the other day and said, "Mom, I want to ride on a train." I said that I thought that would be fun, and maybe someday we would do that. He kept asking me when we would ride on a train though, and for Family Night on Monday we did. Well, we sort of did anyway. We rode on the Trax train in Salt Lake. The kids didn't know the difference. They were loving every minute of it. Maybe sometime when we are really rich we will take them on a real train.

Halloween (for me or the kids?)

We had fun trick-or-treating on Halloween. Liz and Sue came over to go with us and the kids. When Liz came over we were trying to find something for Tyler to wear. He was not into the costume thing. He wouldn't wear any of them. So Liz and I put costumes on our heads trying to show Tyler how cool it was. I turned to Liz and said, "Hey Liz, . . . I will wear this costume around the neighborhood if you will!" Liz was like, "Okay!" So we did. I thought Lamon was completely embarrassed by his crazy wife until he walked out of the house with a costume on himself. And he looked the best by far! I love my goofy husband!

Halloween Party and my Tailbone Woes!

We had a Halloween party at my sister Kathy's house, and she always knows how to throw a great party! It was a lot of fun. I love my family! They are fun and crazy, and I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know how to have fun like us!



So here are a couple of videos of the Human Rubberband Game that we played. I just made up that name. I don't know what it's called, but it was a riot. The videos are really dark, but you can kind of see. Unfortunately I don't have the ones with me in it. Those ones would have put you in tears! I absolute stunk at it. I tried it three times and had three amazingly funny crashes. Each time I fell Drew ran out saying, "Mom, are you okay?" He was so cute. He couldn't quite understand why people would want to continue to do something that makes you fall down. Anyway, the last time I fell I hit my tailbone, and let me just tell you that IT HURTS! I didn't sleep the whole night the first night, and I haven't been comfortable sitting down since. But it was fun before I injured myself! I was talking to a girl I visit teach and I was telling her about what had happened. When I was explaining the game I asked, "Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you seen that game?" . . ."Oh ya . . . I know what your talking about." So I was like, "Have you ever played it?" And she responded . . ."No, not me! I saw a bunch of teenagers doing it!" I was like, "Ya . . . we are kind of immature . . . " But what I really meant was, "Ya! We know how to have fun in my family!"

From the First Date at the Football Game . . .

Okay . . . so I was really hoping that this picture would have been a little bit cuter. Having to squint in the sun did not help me hide the fact that one of my eyes is smaller than the other one. I'm kind of self conscious about that . . . okay not really . . . Anyways . . .
Lamon and I had a fun date on Saturday. We went to the BYU vs UNLV game. It was awesome. I wanted to take a picture because it was almost exactly 5 years ago that Lamon asked me out for the first time, and it was to a BYU football game. I remember when he asked me out I literally jumped around the house screaming! I was so excited. That was the start of our journey together in life and just as importantly our journey together as BYU football fans. BYU football has been an integral part of our romance together. Our first year of marriage we were pretty poor and decided it would be a wise investment to get allsport passes for all of our dating needs. It was a lot of fun. Then we moved to St. George and had to cheer from afar. We showed our support the best we could even by decorating our Christmas tree with BYU colors and homemade BYU ornaments for the last four years! I can't lie . . . I think for a husband to have a wife who is as into football as he is has been a trial at times. It's not like he has been able to just leave me with the kids while he goes to watch the games! No way! But now we're glad to be back close to the Cougs, and I found this moment to be of enormous value! I guess we can start dating again! Go BYU!!!
(A special thanks to all the women in our family who could care less about football and contributed to the tender care of our children on this most important day!)

Drew

It was pretty funny. A couple nights ago Drew went to get a blanket to bring downstairs, and after awhile we went up and found him asleep in the blanket closet. It was cute!

I sure love my Drew boy! He is getting so big. I love to watch Drew do things. He has so much confidence.
Drew always thinks that he is winning, even if he is not. I don't know if this is healthy or not, but it is sure cute. When we were at our friends Jeff and Stacy's the other day, Avery was playing a video game and Drew decided to play. It was a racing one, and Drew's car was just going around in circles, crashing into things, and falling off the edges, but after every game was over he would say, "Yes! I won! I am so good at this." No one was going to intervene and tell him differently. He has come a long way. He used to have an extremely hard time when someone else was doing better than him at something. Everything was a contest to him. If Hayden got dressed before he finished he would start balling because he didn't win. Or if he wasn't the first person to buckle up his seat belt he would want everyone else to unbuckle theirs until he was done because he wanted to win. It was pathetic. We finally got it through to him though that if he does his best than he is a winner. That is probably one reason why he is always thinking that he is winning. Today he was cutting out some shapes at the table, and he was saying, "I am so good at this. I am doing my best!" I love to overhear him talking to himself like that!
Drew is very confident, and he is always offering wisdom. He will say something so off the wall, and say it with such conviction that Lamon and I will just look at eachother and say, "Okay." He just makes me laugh. A week or two ago we invited Lamon's Dad and Annie over for dinner. In the middle of dinner Drew randomly blurts out, "Nephites protect us!" We all looked at him, and Lamon's Dad said, "Did you learn that in Primary? Drew, you are so smart." And in immediate response Drew said, "I sure am!" We all were quiet for a second, and then we all busted up laughing. It was so funny.
One thing that is a byproduct of being confident is that Drew is very friendly. Drew thinks that any kid who is breathing and near him is his friend. He will go talk to anyone. This could be scary I guess, because he really does not have any trepidation in speaking to anyone. When we first moved in he would yell from the door or window when he saw someone, "Hi! I'm Andrew!" or whatever else he felt like saying. He always teaches me how to forget myself, not to be shy, and just to be friendly with people. He is very good at it. I want to be as confident as Drew!

Hayden

Hayden is such a crack up. His little body, with his funny personality together with his mumbled speech (which can be like Mad Gab trying to decipher at times) is just a riot! I love Hayden. He is so much fun. I love it how he will say something that doesn't make any sense to us, and then he will either say, "Ya!" or "That's Right" after everything that he says as if whatever he said made a world of sense.
Hayden has an obsession with gum. If you don't keep an eye on him he will stick as much gum as possible in his mouth. Below is a picture of our little gum thief. I found it funny when I found him with the gum in his mouth though. For some reason the combination of bacon and gum doesn't seem too appetizing to me, but for Hayden I guess it seemed like a winner combo!


What's That Hayden????

Speaking of Mad Gab . . . I want everyone to try to decipher what Hayden says in this video. It is pretty easy in this one. I can understand most of it, but I am just wondering how it sounds to everyone else. My boys are so cute!

Oh the Weather "Inside" is Frightful

When we first moved into the house we experienced some problems with our Air Conditioner, and we lived without air conditioning for awhile. But we set up a few fans throughout the house, and we made it through. And thanks to our cousin Bill we got the Air Conditioner up and running. We were relieved. We were so happy to have our air conditioner we didn't really think to check if our heater was in working condition. Well, it's been getting pretty cold in the early morning hours and the kids have been waking up in the middle of the night really cold in the last week, but the past two or three days have been bitterly cold and . . . no heat was coming from our heater! On Saturday the kids and I were at home and the thermostat read just below 60 degrees or something like that, and that was in the middle of the day. We dressed the kids in multiple layers of clothing, and at night put two pairs of pajamas on them including a warm sleeper. So last night after having a lovely dinner at my sister Karyns house, Lamon lit the fireplace, and set up two space heaters and Drew Hayden and Lamon slept downstairs. When we woke up this morning it was like ice in the house, and the ground was covered with snow outside! We went to church, and when we got home the house was about mid 50's. We bundled up downstairs, and finally Lamon with his manly brains figured things out. He switched the thermostat and there was Heat! I am absolutely sure now that after we have experienced lack of heat and airconditioning, that I would definitly rather have heat!!!! I am so thankful for a Heater!! Although it was pretty fun to hang out next to the fire with the kids!