Snow Days

 It was so fun to wake up to a white Christmas! I couldn't believe how much snow we got overnight. The kids were so ready to get out and play. It was super fun to have Matt home the day after Christmas too. We headed over to the park to try out Corbin's new sled.

 

 

 Kent always has it easy getting back up the hills.

 

 Matt made sledding a lot more fun than I do.

 It was crazy busy at the park so we didn't last long. We headed home to make a snowman. The kiddos got a snowman kit for Christmas so they wanted to try it out. It wasn't very good snowman snow, so the snowman was pretty small. The nose looked very out of porportion, so Matt came up with the tastiest solution ever! It worked great because it was so cold, but I think a bird might have attacked it because it was broken within a few hours.

 

Christmas

On Christmas morning I woke up hours before our kids. I couldn't fall back asleep so I just waited for them to wake up. They all got up within a few minutes of each other. They all walked into the family room at the same time. I love to see their first reactions. One of Corbin's presents from Santa wasn't wrapped and he was amazed at what he got because he had only told Jolly, our elf, the day before that he really wanted the ax from Smith and Edwards. He thought it was truly magical. Kent opened his first present, which was from Santa. It was and excavator, the only thing he wanted for Christmas. The few days leading up to Christmas he was sure Santa would bring him an excavator. My older kids tried to tell him that maybe Santa wouldn't bring it, so I promised Kent if Santa didn't bring him an excavator, I would buy him one after Christmas.

As Christmas got closer Maggie decided that she just wanted surprises for Christmas. So she was super easy to please. Her favorite gift was from me and Matt, her own make-up set.

Corbin got a pocket knife, which he asked for (along with a live black lab, which he did not get.) Matt kept teasing him this year that he had an eight year old Christmas list. Luckily, he was happy with all his six year old toys. His gift from us was a couple of NERF guns which have been a hit, the whole family loves them, especially Matt. 

Matt never gets super exciting gifts. I am a pretty lame gift giver. Since he got put in as Young Men's President, he has been all into camping gear so I gave him a pack of lanterns. Matt is a much better gift giver. My favorite gift was a stay at a hotel in Logan with a gift card for dinner and the temple schedule included. He said he got a babysitter for a night in January for us to have a night away and a temple date. I started to cry because I loved it so much, it was just what I have been wanting.

Christmas morning was perfect. The kids were so excited. Kent took a while to leave his excavator long enough to open his other presents, but he eventually got them all open. Corbin and Maggie were super excited with every single thing.

Every year before anyone can open a present we take a family picture in front of the tree. Matt and I have done this all eight Christmas mornings we have had together. I love them all, even if someone has their eyes closed.

After we finished presents Matt had to go to the church to shovel the sidewalks before the nine o'clock meeting. My parents came over to see what my kids had got. Corbin was so excited to paint his ax, he had to do it right then. 

My kids were hard to get ready for Church. I barely got them ready at hall. Maggie had a flip-a-roo from the night before and I didn't even comb her hair. It was nice to go to sacrament meeting on Christmas. I loved the musical program. My kids were super good with their new boogie boards from Grandpa and Grandma Davis, such a perfect church toy. 

After church we headed out to Mark and Marianne's house. My kids loved all their presents there too.

 It kids a little crazy there on Christmas. Kent freaked out every time Matt left his side. Mark tried to talk to him and he went hysterical. We left right after all the presents were open to go to my parents.We ate lunch and hung out with my family for a while. Kent was fine after he had some time to calm down and get away from all the excitement for a minute. He was really tired from a late Christmas Eve too. Then we went back to Matt's family's for a while before we headed home. Christmas is an exhausting day. It is fun to see family, but I was glad to be home.

It was super nice to have Matt home on Monday to observe the holiday. We spent most of the day hanging out at home with all our new stuff and then headed over to the park to try out Corbin's new sled. It was a perfect Christmas to get new snow toys.

Christmas Eve

I liked that Christmas Eve was on a Saturday so Matt was off the entire day. In the morning we went out to Emmett's headstone and put a tree by it. I had been wanting all season to decorate a tree, but couldn't quite find what I wanted. Finally I just decided to do a wooden one. I painted it green and let my kids decorate it with stickers. They thought it was fun, and I was super happy to include Emmett in our Christmas somehow. It sucks seeing all the stuff I could have bought for him or seeing Ellie open presents for her baby from Marianne, but not getting any for Emmett. I needed something around Christmas time for him.

The night of Christmas Eve we went to Matt's parents for their pajama party. My older kids helped Mark do a Christmas puzzle while we waited for everyone else to get there. They all listened to Grandma read a cute Christmas story and then they each got their new pair of pajamas and slippers. This year the gift she gave the kids on Christmas Eve was a cute animal neck pillow for our red eye flight to Disney World in May.

 

 

 

 

 

This Christmas Eve party doesn't ever start until eight-ish, so when my kids finally get to bed it is late. Luckily this year I had everything ready to go, normally I don't even start wrapping until Christmas Eve.

Davis Christmas Party

 My family's Christmas party was the night before Christmas Eve. I like having it so close to Christmas. We did all presents that night and then just hung out on Christmas day for a few hours. We ate dinner and the kids were so excited to get started. I brought the Saran wrap game. I had a prize for each of the kids wrapped in a huge ball of saran wrap. It turned out a little emotional for the littles because they weren't getting a turn or they were having too hard of a time unwrapping a present. As soon as the youngest three got their gifts the game went a little smoother. Whatever game we try to play like this every year the little kids cry.  

 Steph had a darling craft for all the kids to make. It was a mini pinata they were able to decorate, either a snowman or Christmas tree. We didn't fill them,but the kids had a lot of fun putting the stickers on them. 

 All the cousins exchanged gifts. I love that my family does this because it is the only gift my kids buy for anyone. I think everyone really enjoyed what they got this year. Corbin thought his Magic 8 ball was amazing. He was asking the most random questions all night long. He kept asking it if he loved Emerie (even though he assures me they are just friends) and it kept saying yes!

We gave my parents canvas prints of our families for their formal room. I was super excited about this gift because it is one they have wanted for a while. And it's just a good one.

My parents gave the kids so many awesome gifts. Maggie loved the wallet full of money. She already has a million dollars worth of things she is planning on spending it on.

 

 

I seriously have the best family! I love Christmas time with my cute kids and spending time with all of mine and Matt's family.

Emmett's headstone

Emmett's headstone finally got placed on Thursday. It took a long time and seemed like quite the process. Matt I went in and designed it with the artist and he sent us over a proof within a few days. I emailed him back to get it approved and he never responded. I called the receptionist to approve it and asked her to send out an email so I knew it had started and never got one. A week or so later I emailed the guy helping us and asked if it was already underway. He said he couldn't start it until I made a payment with the receptionist. I had never heard that so I called the receptionist right then and paid. The next day I received a confirmation email that she had ran my card. I waited for almost three months without hearing anything. I emailed them to ask if the headstone had an estimated completion date with no response. I called them a week or so later and asked the same thing. The man I talked to said that it was done, just sitting in the production room. He said that they missed the weather and it would be best to wait until spring to place the headstone. I started to cry and asked if that meant April. He said more like March, but he could look into it. I didn't hear anything back, so the next week I asked Matt to call them. They said they worked it out so it could get it placed the next week. It was quite the ordeal, maybe it was just me being impatient, but I am so happy it is in. And now the terrible temporary marker is gone that said cause of death was fetal demise, I hated that sign. 

The headstone is perfect! Just what I wanted!

Kent's Eye Surgery

Kent had strabismus surgery on the 16th of December. His glasses haven't been making a big enough change in the alignment of his eyes, that the doctor suggested surgery. The doctor would go in and detach the inner eye muscle from the eye move it back 6 mm and reattach the muscle.

We went in at 8:00 am. He knew what was going on as far as he could tell you he was having eye surgery and the doctor was going to cut his muscle off. I don't think he quite understood what that meant though. He did great with all the pre-op stuff, blood pressure, weight, normal doctor visit things. Then it was time for him to go back and leave dad (I was there too, but that didn't mean anything.) They tried to pull him in a wagon and he freaked out so finally the anesthesiologist just carried him back. He was so sad!

We had to wait about two hours until we were able to go back with him. Dr. Bullard said the surgery went well, but he can't tell us if it actually worked until Kent's six week follow up appointment. Kent was asleep when we first saw him. The nurses said he was so sad when he woke up from the anesthesia and just kept yelling for his dad. Instead of getting Matt, they just gave him a strong dose of a narcotic so he didn't wake up until an hour after we were with him. 

 Matt was not happy about that. Kent was super cute when he woke up, almost just like himself. He was eating a slurpy and laughing with Matt. But that only lasted about an hour. By the time it was time to go home, he was really ornery and tired again.  

 He hadn't eaten since the night before and we left about noon so we stopped to get him some food, but he was so out of it he couldn't even eat. He pretty much slept that entire day. He finally woke up fully about 5 o'clock. By that time we went and got Corbin and Maggie from their babysitters and had a fun family night. We went to Lee's to see Corbin's school art project hanging up on the wall there. We went to see Christmas lights just from the car, and we went to Walmart to buy some new puzzles.

 Kent was super ornery pretty much the entire weekend, but he bounced back pretty good. His eyes were so red, it was a little creepy. The doctor said they would be bruised, or red for almost two weeks. It is still a little red over a week later. 

Kent had so many people thinking about him. Malcolm and Ellie dropped of some ice cream for all my kids. Kent's sweet nursery leader brought over a jumbo coloring book with crayons and a bouquet of suckers. Someone else that was so super sweet left a present for Kent on our porch. I have no idea who it was from, but it said:

Dear Kent,

We heard a rumor that you saw an eye doctor. We also hear he performed a surgery that released your super her powers!!! Don't worry your awesome secret is safe with us!

Love, your secret admirers

So cute! It came with a superman cape and mask. He was so excited!

St. George

Last week Matt decided we needed a little family vacation (that always means it's time to go visit Austin and Shawnee.) So Thursday he took off work early. He ended up having to switch out our water heater before we left though. I checked Corbin out of school at one, which Corbin has been begging me to do for weeks. Then we were on the road by two. We rarely stay in hotels, so we decided to stop in Cedar City at a hotel just for the pool and the fun of it. It was perfect because we were practically the only ones there. We had the pool to ourselves and there was only one other person at the breakfast. It was quite the late night between swimming, tv, and all of us in one room, but my kids loved it!

Friday morning after breakfast we headed to Zion National Park. I had never been there before. We hiked to the Emerald Pools. I turned around half way to go get the car, but Matt and the kids hiked the rest of the way to the Groto. It is nice to go in the winter because we were able to drive through the park instead of bus in. There were still quite a few people there, I couldn't even find a parking spot. I had to drive around for a few minutes until someone left.

We drove around the park for a while and hiked to the river at the start of the Narrows.

After Zion's we headed to Austin and Shawnee's. Austin was working so Matt took all the kids on an adventure. That night I was exhausted so I fell asleep, but everyone else went to a live nativity at Tuachan. My kids loved that there were real live camels. I'm sad I missed out. 

The next day Matt and Austin went biking in the morning. When they got back we all went on a hike with an awesome view of St. George.  

This boy had to pick up every rock until there was no  more room in his pockets. He kept telling me he was a "heavy boy."

All the boys

The girls are definitely outnumbered.

Corbin loved that he could wear shorts and a t-shirt again. He thinks he is just like Matt and never wants pants or long sleeves. It was gorgeous weather though. I think I could definitely live in warmer weather.

Shawnee promised Maggie they would make Christmas cookies together. After lunch they made their Christmas cookies and then we headed home. Maggie loves Shawnee! She loves all female adults she is around, but she would have been fine just playing with and talking to Shawnee the whole weekend.

It was a super short vacation, but so fun! We needed warmer weather and a little family time.