Merry Christmas To All!

Slowly but surely I am getting my blog caught up!

We packed up the car for another incredibly long Christmas trip!.  Would you like to follow us in and out of the country and across thousands of miles? 

Drive from Colorado to Gunnison: 493 miles
Drive from Gunnison to Salt Lake City: 130 miles
Fly from Salt Lake to Cancun and back: 4000 miles
Drive from Salt Lake City to Gunnison: 130 miles
Drive from Gunnison to Burley: 307 miles
Drive from Burley to Colorado: 690 miles

Total Traveling Distance:  5750 miles

WORTH EVERY MILE!

 

 

It was such a great vacation.  Not gonna lie, Cancun was just what we needed!  I will post about that another time, this post will focus on Christmas. 

 

 

Unfortunately, our Christmas was a bit tainted with the stomach flu.  Jordyn was sick all day on Christmas Eve.  She was miserable.  That night, she crawled up onto my lap at about 7:00 and fell asleep.  She has never, EVER done that.  It was sad, but super sweet too.  She did not even get a chance to open her Christmas Eve pj's.  But by morning, she was feeling better and ready for Santa!
 

 

Again, unfortunately, Chad was sick on Christmas day.  But we still spent the day with family at my parent's house.  We ate, played games, watched a LOT of basketball, and visited.  It was a nice and relaxing Christmas Day! 

The days following Christmas, Chad worked from my parents house in Gunnison.  My mom and I tried to go see Les Mis every day, but snow kept is in the house.  All the adults got babysitters and went out out El Mex.  Days had gone by and the flu bug had not touched me.  I thought my amazing immune system had stood strong once more.  But by Thursday night, it hit me hard and lasted through Friday afternoon.  On a brighter note though, my parents took us all the the Jazz vs. Clippers game that night!  It was awesome (excpet for the part where Jordyn threw up in the parking lot.  Our stomaches really struggled this Christmas! Which is why you should ignore how dreadful we all look in these pictues.)  But the Jazz game was great fun.  We were in a big skybox.  They served us a turkey dinner and brought drinks and popcorn and nachos during halftime.  They even gave us t-shirts.  We also got to go into the tunnel as the team came in at half time.  And we stood out on the court for high fives as some of the players came back out onto the floor.  Too bad the Jazz just couldn't pull off the win.

That night Tarrin and Tyrell we gracious enough to share their house with us and Chad's parents, even though the were in Colorado.  (Ironic, right.)  We spent the next couple days in Salt Lake with them watching movies, eating pizza, and we even went to the a Utah Natural History Museum.  Oh boy, was that a 4th grad science flashback!  We felt so bad when there was more stomach flu going around (not by our family this time) and we were not able to see our new nephew blessed.  At least we finally got to meet him and squeeze his cute little cheeks! 

The next couple days were spent in Burley.  We rang in the New Year with board games and fun finger foods.  Jordyn played and played.  And I finally got to see Les Mis!  I was singing it for days following!  Which was unfortunate for Chad cause the next day was 11 hours in the car back to Colorado.  It is a killer drive, but Jordyn was a champ.  How did anyone every travel without portable DVD players?



Troubles

I am struggling with my blog.  When I go to upload pictures, I click on the little photo icon and it opens up the window.  Then I click on "upload" in the top left corner and nothing comes up.  I swear something used to come up that let you chose to upload pictures from your computer.  I can still upload from a phone or url or any of those other options on the left hand side, just  not from my computer.  Has this happened to anyone else?  Any suggestions?

Bah-Humbug

Here is the tale of Santa Clause 2013.  We were late for the ward party.  Way late.  Like 45 minutes late.  So when we walked into the foyer, Santa was standing there waiting to run into the gym.  I thought, "Perfect, maybe we can just see Santa here in the foyer and then we won't have to wait in line!"  Jordyn was having none of that.  She kind of scotted around Santa, as far away as possible, with her hand out like I cop directing traffic.  She just kept saying, "No danks Santa.  No danks.  Go away Santa."  And ran off to play in the nursery.

So we waited in line.  We were the last people to see Santa.  And she was ticked off about the whole situation!

November Catch-Up!

November was so so busy.  I honestly don't remember half of it.  There were several things that made for a crazy month; callings, Junebug Jane, toddlers, and work.  I was called to be the YW president in our ward in October.  By November, I hit the ground running with Young Women in Excellence, filling a presidency and advisors, preparing for a new calendar year, getting to know 37 young women in a ward where we still feel new, not to mention the balancing act with Chad as the ward mission leader.  I never thought I would have to get a baby sitter on Sunday mornings so we can both be at ward council.  It is a little crazy, but the blessings are flowing!

As for Junebug Jane...phew!  I am glad the Christmas season is over!  I am so grateful for the business.  I never in a million years thought my shop would be so busy and productive.  Next year, I will definately be more prepared for it though.  I was scrambling to find materials, time, resources, and patience to get it all done and shipped by Christmas.  In the first part of November I sold a lot of advent calendars.  By the end of the month I spent every spare minute making busy books.  I found new ways to speed up the process and get the most out of my materials.  Buy the first few days in December, I had to turn a way a lot of customers.  I felt bad turning away business, but I simply ran out of time.  Next year, I will definately be more ready!

Toddlers.  Oh my, toddlers.  And I think Jordyn is a relatively good toddler.  It is just a whole new ballgame.  I feel so bad that she has spent so much time entertaining herself this month.  I was just too busy to give my entire day to her.  Her latest quirk is lining things up.  Every room I walk into has her little OCD line up of objects.  It can be blocks, bibs, blankets, clothes, diapers, books,... anything.  It makes me smile every time!  Her naps are no more, she just has quiet time in her room.  Every day when I let her out at 3, her first words are always "Oh no mommy, a mess!"  I look around her room and see the clothes in one line, stuffed animals in another, diapers in another.  Silly girl.

In November, the month of gratitude, I am so grateful for Chad's job.  When he graduated and applied to about 100 jobs, I never thought we would be so lucky to have hime work for a great company and for him to be able to provide so well for our family.  He has more than a full load of hours right now.  I am lucky he is home a few days a week.  He definately stays busy during the day.

That has been our November.  Crazy busy, but we are so blessed to have our hands full with the things we do.  I know it sounds like this whole post was a giant complaint, but I really am grateful to have busy hands.  I have been on both ends of the spectrum.... complete bordom and crazy busy.... since we moved to Colorado.  I would chose crazy busy over bordom any day. 

More Family Visitors!

Just a few weeks after my parents came, the Barton's came to visit too.  Our favorite thing we did was the Cheyenne Mtn. Zoo.  This is honestly one of my favorite zoos.  The last time we went was on Labor day and it was so crowded.  This time, it was basically empty which was so cool!  We got to feed the giraffes.  They have so many and they are all so friendly!

Also, feeding chickens,  Jordyn put her cup in the fence, and then just dumped it all upside down.  Smart girl we have.

We are so grateful that our parents take the time to come all the way to Colorado to get to know Jordyn and to see our family in our home.  It really means a lot to us to see the effort on our behalf.  We love our families!

Family Visitors!

My parents came out for a long weekend in October.  They brought my 2 nephews, Canyen and Payton, with them.  It was so fun to have some more kids in the house.  Jordyn adored them and they were so good to play with her and give her all the attention she wanted!

We had some down time, mommy/daughter shopping, rec center pool, cave of the winds, garden of the gods, science museum, lots of food and games.