Goodbye to 2014. I’ll
be honest, it wasn’t my best year. I
mean, I can’t complain because we got Kaden at the end of it. But it wasn’t too kind to me otherwise. I spent a good part of it sick from morning
sickness, then just the regular pregnancy exhaustion and not feeling like
myself. Then labor pains for weeks. Then when we finally got Kaden here, I ended
up with the blood clot and then the flu.
So I can’t say that I’m sad to say goodbye to 2014. I am really excited to start 2015 feeling
more like myself and with our family complete!
Highlights of 2014:
The family went to Arizona (and Brian Head, and Bear Lake)
Kylee was baptized!
Kylee started on the gymnastics team
Dylan played football for the first time (and loved it!)
Sadie started Preschool (and dance)
Kaden joined our family!
On New Year’s Eve we talked a little about resolutions and
tried to help the kids set some, but we realized it won’t be something they
work towards if they don’t set the goal for themselves. So even though I tried to get Dylan to agree
to no more violence, at least at school.
And I tried to get Kylee to agree to being honest and speaking more
sweetly to everyone. And I tried to get
Sadie to agree to be less sassy and stop with the screaming fits (every SINGLE
night at dinner she refuses to eat and runs downstairs screaming her head
off. Then she comes back up all sweet
and says, “I’m ready to eat now.” Well,
sometimes. Sometimes she just goes
hungry.) I tried to set their goals but
I don’t have hopes that they will try that hard to keep them. If only it were that easy, setting a
resolution. But not with kids. Kids are work.
My goals… For the
first time, maybe ever, I don’t really have any goals. And I don’t really want to set any. Not right now. I’m happy to survive. I want to just be a mom and a homemaker and
do it well. So there will be no fitness
goals, or temple goals (the temple here is closing for remodeling for 18
months! So I won’t be making it there
much this year, especially with a newborn.
I should try to go do endowments before it closes, though.) I do and a goal to NOT post anything about
food. Seriously, I’m so sick of thinking
so much about food! I know it was
necessary at one time but I’ve been feeling well, as far as my gut goes. And I’ve been eating whatever is
convenient. I mean, I’m still health-conscious
but if the family wants to go to a certain restaurant, I’m just going to go
along with it instead of stressing that there will be nothing for me to
eat. So this year I hope to not think
about food near as much, and certainly have NO blog posts devoted to food and
diet. I’m sure everyone will agree that’s
an improvement.
New Year’s Day we went sledding. It was really, really cold outside! Like 10 degrees. But the sun was shining and it was one of the
only days we had available. And the kids
REALLY wanted to go. So we bundled up,
Ryan packed some hot water in a cooler and brought hot cocoa mix, and we headed
out.
It was cold, but it wasn’t quite as bad as you would think
as long as you had your gloves on. It
was quite cold going down the hill with the wind rushing into your face. But the kids didn’t really complain. Except Sadie after she had taken her gloves
off. She was still really whiny coming
off of such a long illness. She was not
pleasant for a long time. She still has
her moments. We love her, but she sure
likes to push her limits with us. I
guess she’s trying to see if she’s still as spoiled as she used to be. Answer: no.
Sadie was excited to go sledding too, even though she hated
it last year and refused to go. And she
refused to try the tubing hill at the resort in Brian Head. She told us then that she would go sledding
when she was four. Well, she is now. So she said she would go. But the real reason she was excited to go
sledding was the hot chocolate. And just
playing in the snow. So imagine my
surprise when she picked up her sled and headed out with Dad and the kids,
watched while they all headed down the hill, then hopped on her sled and took
off all by herself! She screamed on the
way down, hard to blame her with how steep it was in spots. But she came back up and got ready to go
again.
She liked going on her belly
best. After two times she said she
wanted to go with Ryan, but he is too big and not great at not falling
off. So I told her I would go with her. I held her tight, I kept us from spinning
backwards, and we didn’t fall off. But
as we were sledding down, she was whining saying she doesn’t like it. I tried to convince her that it was fun. (It
was fun for me, but I like thrilling things.)
But she wasn’t convinced and said she didn’t want to go anymore but she
said she had to if she wanted hot chocolate.
She remembered from last year.
Because last year she refused to go at all and when we tried to go with
her she dug her feet in and hopped off before we even got very far. We wanted her to at least try so we
threatened no hot chocolate. I’m pretty
sure she still got some. Anyway, she was
thinking she had to keep going down the hill even though she didn’t like
it. I told her that it’s supposed to be
fun and if she wasn’t having fun then she didn’t have to go anymore. She said, “but if I don’t go, I don’t get hot
chocolate.” I told her I was very proud
of her for going as many times as she did and she didn’t have to go anymore and
she could still have hot chocolate.
Funny girl.
So what was Kaden doing while we were freezing on the
sledding hill? Well, he was sleeping in
the car right by us for the first little bit.
Then he woke up so I put him in his warm, fuzzy suit to keep him
warm. I don’t think he minded the cold
all that much, it was just on his face.
But the sun was so bright coming off the snow that he was blinded. And if we weren’t in the sun, it was pretty
cold. So he wasn’t thrilled.
We hung out for a few minutes, and then I got
back in the car with Kaden to wait for the others to finish.
Kylee and Dylan had a blast.
Sadie was happy because Ryan gave her two cups of hot chocolate, and she
fell asleep on the way home. Kylee and
Dylan were pretty worn out after climbing the hill so many times. It was a fun day.
During Christmas break the kids played outside on our little
sledding hill quite a bit. Ryan shovels
the driveway into a big hill and the kids climb it and sled down. It’s not much but the kids enjoy it. Even Sadie :-)
One day when Kylee
and Sadie were out playing, Ryan took some pictures because Jax was playing
too. He’s a very strange cat
sometimes.
I don’t know why he thinks he’s
a parrot. Or why he’s trying to eat
Sadie’s coat. He was probably thirsty
and his water was frozen over. Luckily
Ryan got Jax a Christmas present. A heat
lamp!
It lets off a LOT of heat.
It keeps the water from freezing as long as it’s under it. And if Jax gets really cold he curls up
underneath it. He also has a heated pad
on his bed. At first Ryan had put the
heat lamp right next to his bed, but I think it gets too hot for him to be
under all the time. He climbed under his
little bouncer chair at first once he got too hot. Then he took off for the rest of the night. I think the red, hot light must’ve freaked
him out. So Ryan moved the light a
little further away and it seems to work well.
It still lets off enough heat to reach the bed, but not right on top of
it. And on the really cold nights, I’ve
seen Jax under the lamp. Luckily it hasn’t
been below zero much this year so far.
It’s actually been fairly warm with not much snow. The kids are riding their bikes to school
most days still. The reason Ryan went
out of his way to go to Cal Ranch to buy a heat lamp for the cat is because he
doesn’t want the cat in the garage anymore.
It’s impossible to keep him off the cars, so it’s understandable. And really, with the heating pad and the heat
lamp, it’s warmer on the deck in his bouncer chair than in the garage. He hangs out in his bouncer often so we know
he likes it. It’s a pretty sweet set-up.
I’m excited for 2015.
Not sure what it will bring. I
have no big plans. But I kind of like it
that way. Let’s see what we end up with.
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