New Years Tradition

Well! It's almost midnight and I'm home from our annual New Year's Eve Party with friends up at Brighton. We enjoyed pizza and yummy party food for dinner, and the kids played games - Wesley bought up Go For It. 

The dad's enjoyed a few intense games of foosball...

Around 9pm it got quiet as most of the children were watching a movie together -

They do the ball drop up there at 10pm, so we celebrated with New York, which works out great for us families with little ones. It was particularly helpful this year, cause if it had been later, I would have missed it, cause Daniel got sick right before we rang in the new year... He had been kinda clingy all evening. With about 5 minutes to go until the new year, he still wanted to be held and so I sat on the couch (cause I'm 37 weeks pregnant and I can only stand and hold him for so long).

"Cute little guy snuggling up to me. Aww, he's tired" I thought

I asked Mel to take a picture of my little boy who only gets to be the baby for 2 more weeks. And then, I heard it and felt it - he threw up down my left arm. I hold him up. Doh, we got the couch. Corey! I got a mess here we need to clean up... And then he threw up over my right side.... Okay!! Well, looks like I need to head home... and then he finished me off with the biggest barf of the three, unloading the rest of what his tummy was holding in all over my big pregnant belly (I was impressed with the liquid capacity of his stomach)

Well! Thanks for that, little buddy! Are you done? Let's be done? Yes, ok, I think he's done. Uh... I need help, where to start... Corey grabbed the roll of paper towels and I tried to get all the big chunks off.

I could feel it all soaking in and it smelled like throw up, aka horrible. Mel ran and got Daniel's jacket, we took of his wet shirt and put that dry jacket on him, but I didn't have a change of pants for him, so he was gonna have to deal with that. We threw his shirt in a plastic bag. I didn't have a change of clothes for me either, but then I remembered that thankfully I did wear a sweatshirt over my clothes when we came up, so I passed Daniel to Mel and went and washed off my arms as best as I could and changed my shirt. I had to deal with the wet undergarments and pants, yay. And everyone was tooting horns, happy new year!!

Corey went to get the car for me and I was on my way home with Owen and Daniel at 10:20, home at 10:55. I started laundry, got showered off, and these two toddlers were in bed just shortly after 11. Hopefully there will not be more messes during the night this time? I pondered New Year's celebrations from years past. Owen threw up all over me in 2017 and then we had a big mess the next day too. Hm, maybe we've left a bug at the cabin that's gonna infect us every year? Or perhaps it's an altitude thing? But then I remembered I also got thrown up on by Daniel last year, though not at the cabin on New Year's Eve, that one was on January 5th - so maybe it's a toddler thing during the cold months. Anyway, mental note to self (if my brain is able to recall this memory sticky note come the end of 2019): Tiffanie! Be on guard! Bring an extra change of clothing for myself and the toddlers wherever you go, and maybe a few towels, just in case!

So ends a great year of our life with kids! Good news is that Corey will be able to get a good nights rest up at the cabin, which doesn't usually happen. And that's good cause he is going to be on his own taking the kids skiing tomorrow. Not that I would have been a ton of help for him. I'm kinda useless right now. So yeah, they'll have fun tomorrow, and I'll have a day here at home tomorrow that I will hopefully not waste just lying around wishing this baby was out of me (but that will probably be how the day looks, if the past week is any indication of the current trend I'm on)... Party's almost over, it's been a fun winter break, but back to reality on Wednesday. The busy school week makes the time go faster, and I'm anxious for Jan 14th to get here asap, so bring it on, let's get these next 14 days over with!

Bahr Gathering and Crandall Printing Museum

Today was a busy day. It started with me driving down town to drop off a package to send to Joseph, from a lady who lives in Miami, who is from Guatemala, and who goes to Guatemala every 2 weeks, so she takes things down for missionaries. She happened to be in Salt Lake so she posted it on on the Guatmeala Mom's facebook page that this pick up would be delivered on Jan 8th. Well what do you know, that would be just in time for Joseph's birthday!! So I didn't tell Joseph, but I got a birthday package ready for him with some help from "The Birthday Lady" (aka my mom) and we got it ready last night. I dropped it off and I'm excited, I didn't tell him it's coming so I don't think he's expecting anything so I hope it is really a great surprise that brightens his day!

So, after that, I got back home and loaded up a van full of kids and we hurried down to Orem for a lunch gathering with my mom's side of the family. The annual Bahr get together used to be a New Years' Day/January 1st thing, so we usually haven't gone cause we are always at Brighton with friends over New Years. But last year they moved this family get together to the Saturday before New Years, so we went last year and were there again this year! Yay, we're participating in the one time the Bahrs get together, so I'm happy to make the effort, even if I am 9 months pregnant and it makes me miss my nap today. I've got 60+ cousins on my mom's side (and just 2 on my dad's side!) so this Bahr gathering is usually a huge group even though most of the relatives are not in attendance. My mom has 5 brothers, and 4 of them were there with their wives and it was also a good turn out of their kids and grandkids, over a hundred came. My mom is the baby, and there was a solid showing of her posterity - 3 out of 7 and all 3 with spouses, and that's good cause 3 of the 4 that didn't make it are out of state or else we might have had 100%. It is a potluck lunch, where my mom and her brothers each bring two main dishes and everyone else brings a side dish or dessert to feed 10. I brought a big salad that I knew I could eat all of if necessary, to keep me full of my Daily Dozen and away from the tempting treats. Lily gave into the temptation (a few times over...)

Lily! You're usually more health conscious than this! But I guess she felt like binging today. I gave Daniel a few treats to occupy him until the line died down. Wes kept him company.

He didn't eat much of them, he mostly just stared at Aunt Beka and Uncle Matt across the table from him. So we ate, talked, visited, the kids ran around with people that they didn't know... all the grandkids had similar complaints... "I don't know any of these people!" "THAT is why we are here!" Look at all these people you are related to! Pretty cool, isn't it? Natalie and Daniel rolled a ball with my brother's little girl Eliza (or is that Lucy? I can't tell from the back..."

And so we had fun there until 3:30. At 3:30 we loaded up - Corey headed home with Hyrum, Wesley and Owen, and I took the girls and Daniel to a museum I just found out about in Provo, the Crandall Printing Museum. And it was so cool. So, on Christmas, Corey's dad gave him a little booklet about the miracles involved in printing the Book of Mormon (a lot of which is mentioned in this article by John Pratt). I finished reading it yesterday and it was really interesting, so I was sad that we nenver made it to the Grandin Press in Palmyra when we visited New York years ago in 2006 (before the blog, so no link to that one) but I was googling around a bit and lo and behold - there is a little printing museum right here in Utah! I texted them about a tour, and was able to schedule one for today at 4. So, since we were in the neighborhood in Orem, I figured we might as well head down to Provo to check it out. Plus I wanted to do it before the baby came, so this might be my one shot. It was great - they had a replica of the Gutenberg Press -

The typeset case and a stack of printed pages for a Latin Bible...

He showed us how they make the typeset letters, with some liquid metal that was 600 degrees but cools down almost instantly on the cold stone top of furnace. The little girls found that part really fascinating...

Daniel didn't care and was starting to be handful. Unfortunately at a museum, I can't just let him run loose, so it was a bit tricky. I tried to turn on pbs kids app on my phone.

That worked for a little bit to distract him as we tried to keep listening...

The nice tour guide. He's the only one doing tours right now, which is why it's for appointment only. He showed us how they inked the press...

Darn it, the phone wasn't working for Daniel anymore...

Abi got to pull the press lever.

Looking at replicas of the Latin Bible.

The girls were so good, I was so proud of them. I know it's not easy to go on a 90 min tour, but they paid really good attention and actually seemed to be understanding some of it! Here we are in the Benjamin Franklin room where they had a replica of his press and the Declaration of Independence, which said replica's typeset was made from the original molds used for the original publications of the Declaration, pretty neat!

Then another room wtih a replica of the Grandin Press, like the one that was used to print the Book of Mormon.

That huge stack of paper there is 2500 sheets - enough for one "signature" for the Book of Mormon. And it took 37 signatures to print all the pages of the Book of Mormon. A picture of how the typeset pages were layed out below...

It was all just so fascinating! And I loved it, Abi and Lily really liked it too, and Natalie and Sophi did great following along. Thankfully Daniel fell asleep over my shoulder when we were looking at Benjamin Franklin's press replica. (Oh yeah, he missed his nap today!) So he was killing my arm and my pregnant tummy as I held him over my shoulder, but he was quiet, so I kept holding him. A historical replica of what the Golden Plates may have looked like. Amazing stuff.

The face masks of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.

Again, it was really great. I told Corey all about it after I got home and he was recently assigned to work with the young Men of our church ward, so I think they're going to go down there for a youth activity sometime, the kids will all love it. 

Sledding

Melodie took Daniel sledding today and got some of the cutest pictures EVER...

She has more and said she emailed them to me, and I thought I also downloaded them off her phone, but neither one of those is true, so I'll have to make due with these screenshots of her instagram for now, but I'll try to remember to come back and update later with all of the adorable pictures.

Daniel is the cutest! And Mel, you are such a good big sister, thank you!

7 January Update - Ok, I finally got her photos, so fun! First they got warmed up to the cold by exploring in the backyard. 

 Daniel was intrigued by the "snowman" (that's what he and Owen call snow)

Yep, it's snowman outside!

I admit it, snow is pretty cool stuff

Sophi was in the backyard too with her new stuffed cat Scruff A Luv toy...

"You having fun Soph? Sitting there by yourself?" Ok

 And then Mel and Daniel headed over to the gulley to sled. Daniel!! You're so stinkin cute!!

Two pictures similar to the ones she put on Instagram...

with just a slight variation. But I'll post it, cause it's adorable. Thanks for taking him Mel!

Nerf War

Today I had my 2nd to last doctor appointment, yay. One more on Jan 7th, then hopefully at that one I'll be scheduled for my elective induction. I have been pretty much in worthless mode the past few weeks - although I did take down the trees tonight, as I had stated I would. I'm not on top of it or unstoppable, but I do want to try to get the house a little recovered from Christmas before baby comes, so I got less than 3 weeks to kick it in gear. But like I said, I haven't been contributing much this month. Corey, knowing this, did pretty much all the Christmas shopping for our large brood (well, I had picked up a few gifts in October) and he did all the wrapping. Pretty awesome guy I married right there, thanks sweetie. So, a little bit about one of the gifts he got for the kids yesterday - the kids EHWALSN (Ethan through Natalie) each received a Rival Nerf Gun. He has a grand vision of taking the family over to the church for an all out Nerf war. He got the biggest gun for himself, but ended up gifting it to Natalie (pic 7)

I think the highlight of Corey's Christmas yesterday was seeing his little girl going all gangster on her siblings. Corey got this video of her right after she'd taken a few dozen rounds at them with her semi automatic. I think Corey meant to get her in action but the camera must not have been ready, but here's a clip of a priceless little giggle that is pretty cute, as she delights at the power in her hands. Her ready-to-aim hop and stance the last second is great too

So, yesterday, after we all opened presents and after talking to Joseph, Corey and the kids headed over to his parent's house, I stayed home while Owen and Daniel took a nap. They enjoyed opening gifts with extended family.

When my toddlers woke up, we got ready to go over and join in the family bonding. Corey asked me to bring all our new Nerf Guns, cause cousin Isaac had received a Nerf gun and pistol from Santa and was in full combat regalia.

"Can you bring the guns cause we might need to go to war..." and in another voice message 30 minutes later - "Yeah, bring every gun you got... Isaac's got to get it handed to him..." So I tried to find the guns in the disorder that had been left in Christmas' wake, I found 6 of the 7 guns and as many bullets as I could, and then I headed over with Owen and Daniel. When I got there, Daniel headed inside and everyone else came and loaded in the van - they went to the church for a battle. The boys made a pretty impressive fort.

I had forgotten Lily's gun though, I didn't see it on her bed, but I did look. So Corey went home to get her gun and to get the charger for Natalie's gun. The kids got their war zones ready and tried a few warm up fights, but it didn't quite work cause the girls mostly hid in the bathroom and complained/cried that the boys kept shooting at them. "Well, isn't that the game? What did you think you guys were going to do when you all decided to come over here for a Nerf war?" Owen was also sad cause he wanted Corey and then I decided to bail out with him after Mel accidentally shot him in the eye. Back to Grandma's I went as soon as Corey got back. Daniel had been having fun in a new spiderman mask and cape. 

Looks like grandma took some notes when we went over for dinner after General Conference. These little boys love masks!

Owen tried on his Batman mask and cape. They felt pretty cool.

So, that was the rest of our Christmas day fun. The Nerf war wasn't as ideal as Corey envisioned, he said we need more firearms and ammunition. I guess with 11 kids, you can't be too prepared? Maybe he'll be heading out to do some more Christmas shopping, we'll see. And I'm glad, eventhough the bullets all over the house might drive me crazy, that I can kinda wash my hands of it, cause I wasn't the one who bought them. Kids' need a dad, cause he's the fun one. 

Christmas Day!

Welcome Christmas day! As usual on Christmas morning, Corey and I slept in while the kids tried to wait. They were up on their own, but thankfully not as early as their alarms were set for (4:30 am) because I had confiscated phones and unplugged alarm clocks. They slept in the front room under the tree. I came out first, and gave permission for them to open their presents to each other, which were under the tree in the front room.

Corey and I went over the list of gifts and checked it twice to make sure things were even between the kids.

We didn't have a big breakfast. We kinda didn't have breakfast at all... the kids were eating the treats in their stockings and Corey had bought lots of goodies that we just set out in bowls at the table. Things like dried mangos, chocolate covered acai, cookies, etc. You know, all the healthy stuff. Then we all voted to go over to the white tree to open presents.

I tried to get a kid picture in front of the tree. There were lots of moving parts though, so these were the two that kinda turned out the best...

Still a little blurry, or kids are half hidden - Daniel above and Hyrum below, but we called it good and the opening began.

Corey puts numbers on the presents and then has a list he goes from, so the kids don't know which gift is for who. Lily chose the first one, the biggest one. It was for Natalie. This was a last minute switch...

Corey had bought this for himself, but gifted it to Natalie last minute cause she needed another present. This is the Nerf Rival Prometheus MXVIII, a semi automatic blaster gun. It was bigger than she is.

Corey figured it was safe to give her, cause she'll more willing share with him, being the sweet 5 year old that she is, and cause if she did want to use it, she would probably tire of it quickly and be open to letting him take it over for her. Corey got lots of these Rival Nerf guns for the kids. They continued to pick up presents, tell Corey the number, and then hand the present to the lucky recipient.

Daniel made a cute face when he opened a toy car. It will have to be preserved in memory though, cause I didn't catch it on camera. He and Owen got lots of cars and loved it.

More opening gifts.

Natalie got an Elsa doll and Sophi got Elena of Avalor.

Gifts almost all opened...

and we have the mess to prove it...

Yeah. Post Christmas chaos.

I cleaned up a little bit, and the house looked awesome yesterday morning. But now that we don't have a "Santa can't come..." threat to motivate them to pitch in, looks like we're on our own for today. But we kinda picked up for a second before we had the real highlight of the day - a call from Joseph at 11:00!!!

HI JOSEPH!!! It was really fun to talk to him. My parents came over and we also skyped in Corey's parents. Owen and Daniel were up watching tv -

a good distraction so they wouldn't make it so we couldn't talk to Joseph. But we did have them make a brief appearance. Owen, do you remember Joseph?

He cried cause we had taken him away from his show and quickly left to go finish watching Big Hero 6, which is his current movie on repeat. Daniel stayed a bit longer and was more willing to say hello to his big brother. "Yeah... I think I remember that guy..."

So we talked with Joseph for an hour.

It was fun.

I took a few videos. Corey did too. I uploaded the three of mine to his blog here.

He's doing a great job. Corey asked him if there's anything he misses from home. And he said he can't really remember what life was like before the mission. I totally get that though, we've been there.

That's good, it means he's lost in the work of the Gospel. He's such a good kid, and we sure miss him, but he's not missing anything here and there's no place we'd rather have him be. Here's Mel's instagram pic in memory of the glorious occasion -

Corey and the kids headed over to his parent's house at 2. I am staying here for a bit while Owen and Daniel are down for naps, and since I had was Santa during the night, I'm going to take a quick breather too. Will post tomorrow with other Christmas fun we had today.