New Besties

Tanner and Maximus have had a love/hate relationship for about the last year. At first tanner thought he was super cute. Then a month later he was ready to get rid of Max. But since its been freezing (actually below freezing) for the past little while Max has to spend most of the day in front of the heater in the front room. I have been a total Nazi to him in respect to chewing things and potty training. It has worked well and he's a completely different dog. He used to NEVER come when called and he was TERRIFIED of Tanner. But lately Maximus is Tanner's biggest fan and Tan decided he kinda likes him after all. Especially when he snuggles up all over him. Maxi also knows Tan will protect him from the evil Hud-monster who is not so sweet with him.

Random Stuff

My kids love to check under the tree to see if there's any new presents. Then, being my offspring, they are compelled to organize the presents into piles:-)

It was quiet . . . too quiet, so I snuck down the hall expecting to find him in my makeup. . .

instead I found him stinking up my bathroom and catchin' up with SI.

This is what happens at 5 o'clock when little boys think they're too big for naps. Originally he fell asleep with a chip hanging out of his mouth, leaning up against Bryson.

In addition to just having surgery, not knowing where we're going to live or when we're going to move, not having a good income, and a completely chaotic life for the last 9 months my car got broken into last week in my driveway and my purse was stolen. Fortunately I was able to recover some of my stuff and I have police officer and a few other people who were robbed who want to help catch these idiots.

My purse was under the seat but I had some scrapbooking bags on the seat that must have been mistaken for purses. There was glass everywhere and it was about 9 degrees when I had to take my kids to school and drive to the repair shop.

Beautiful

The girl who wrote and sings this song is April Meservy, whose mother is in our ward. She shared this video with us in R.S. last week and I thought it was so pretty. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com

Post-Op

I had my post-op appt. today and found out what was so "nasty" about my gall bladder. Dr. Chu said because I was jso relaxed on surgery day she was not expecting anything big. When she got in there though my gall bladder was 3x the size she was expecting, thick, puss-y, and obviously infected. Normally they send it to the pathology lab and they run a few tests. Apparently the lab techs were intrigued and counted my gall stones. Drum roll please . . . . . . . over 60 ladies and gentlemen!!! I don't know if that's a record or not but it makes me proud:-) She said I have obviously been dealing with this problem a very long time.

Here's some things I know/found out:

*Vicodin makes me nauseous. Percocet makes me delirious and Lortab makes me vomit

*I will never be a drug addict

*I can go 4 days without eating, then vomit, then live off a sleeve of soda crackers for the next 3 days and still not lose a pound. This makes me angry inside and/or cursed

*my husband is a very good, strict caretaker/giver

*flushing the toilet requires a lot more abs than you think (in fact just about everything does)

*I never want to have a C-section

*I'm more addicted to vacuuming than I thought. I had to get my fix a few days after surgery

*My kids miss snuggling me and sitting on my lap. A. LOT.

*Don't watch funny shows like "Four Christmases" the day after abdominal surgery.

I'm wishin'. . .

I had a mud room on days like this. When its like 4 degrees outside (okay fine, -6) and the kids keep thinking they want to go play in the snow. After 20 minutes of dressing them they go out to play and a few minutes later (like 2 to be exact) they all come to the door crying because they're frozen and they all have snotcicles hanging from their noses.

This is what my entryway looks like all day long

The front tree sure looks beautiful at night with all the snow

Our front yard. I can't shovel because A. I have 4 incisions in my belly, and B. our snow shovel already made its way to California. Well at least the family down there can use it to shovel snow in Shingle Springs.

The house looks much better at night when the kids are asleep. WAIT! What's that blurry thing?

"Why can't I pull all the ornaments off?"

"Woops, just yanked out the loopy thing again!" You know that's what he's thinking, huh?

I also wish I could read his mind when he has this look on his face. He made a very impressive argument shortly after this picture about why he doesn't want to sleep in Bryson's bed anymore and how its time for him to share a room (and bed) with me now. It was full of lotsa tears and sad pouty faces. He almost won . . . almost, but then I remembered the last umpteen nights he's been in our bed and I got the last word . . . until 4. (a.m. that is) He always wins at 4.

Going away party

Our awesome friends Kathy, Stephanie and Annie threw us a going away party. Only, we're not going away yet. We were supposed to move the first weekend in Dec. until I found out I would have to have surgery (not supposed to lift over 20 lbs. for 3 weeks). Then we were going to move on the 12th until the owner of the house we were gonna rent turned out to be an @$$. So now we are staying through Christmas because A. we didn't want to move the kids right in the middle of the holiday season, and B. we have to house to move in.to. So that's Tanner's priority the next 3 weeks. Find. us. a. place. to. live!!!

Sorry to anyone who didn't get the memo about the party. For some reason a lot of people didn't get the evite that was sent to them. I still want to make sure I get everyone's info before we move. You can call or email me or leave a message below. Thanks.

Thanksgiving

I had surgery Tuesday morning and Thursday we drove down for Thanksgiving at Meinzer headquarters. I wouldn't know how the food turned out but everyone else said it was awesome. I only got a few pics cuz I was laid up on the couch the whole time.

The food consumption

The cousins all playing swords with willow branches. Bryson was the first to inflict a wound on a fellow cousin. Shocker!

Male bonding. Lots of it.

Lots of other bonding taking place in the form of wrestling. Shell's poor girls probably didn't know what they were getting into taking on my kids in a wrestling tournament.

We spent Thanksgiving day with the fam and then Tanner and the 2 big kids met up with the rest of the fam for a show on Friday. We all went back to headquarters Fri night but didn't last long because the meds I was on made my life hell that day. On the way back to Clint and Connie's I started puking in the car which, after abdominal surgery, hurts reallll bad. That was last time I took pain meds. I think we had a good time, unfortunately that whole 2-week time span is a total blur and there's a lot I don't remember. I don't think I'll ever like pain meds.

One super cute little man right here. He rocks the boots everywhere. Even with sweats. SWEET!