Thanksgiving Update

Thanks to Tay, I finally decided to write a post on Thanksgiving. Not really, I was just being lazy, and I was going to get around to it eventually. We had another successful Thanksgiving. Lots of food, laughter, and Quick Care. Yup. I said it. ANOTHER stop at the quick care for our family. This time, however, it was Kevin and not Spencer. He was having some chest pains (yikes!), so after freaking ourselves out, with the help of Mom, Aunt Kathy and webMD, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Saying the word "angina" is funny, but having one...not so much, if you know what I mean. Three hours and a chest x-ray later we got to leave with a clean bill of heath. They told him it might be gas, but both of us thought that he is always gassy, so we would wait it out. All is well, and as far as I am concerned...it was gas! Ha ha, sorry Kevin!

We had a great time visiting with everyone. Our children were about as well behaved as kids can be when 900 things are going on at a time. My parents, less Susan, took all us kids out for our annual Thanksgiving shoe shopping! Gotta love that. Spencer had a great time too. All you need is Uncle E to come along, and you can have your four year old transformed into a Shoebertron. Sweet. Hey Eric, want to come shopping with me every time?

The actual feast was over in no time, of course. All those that slaved away all day in the kitchen watched their efforts be consumed in 30 minutes. Mmmmmm. No worries, the party continued. The family had a great time hanging out, even though we somehow cannot seem to shut our computers off even for an hour or two!

Oh well, it was worth the laughs!

The day after, none of us braved Black Friday. Instead the girls decided to make candy and have a Guitar Hero jam session. I suck, but it was so fun! I need that game. We also stayed at Cal and Jeanette's that night. It was fun to be able to see that side of the family too. It seemed a little off not having two Thanksgiving dinners this year. All the Nelson's were at their cabins except Cal's family. We were happy they decided to stick around. Spence and Oli had a blast "making science" with Alli and Jessica. We don't get to see the Vegas clan nearly enough these days.

I am truly grateful for our families. They are so wonderful to us. I can't imagine not having that support system. Having parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins that you can share your life with is such a blessing and makes everything so much more colorful. I have the best husband ever and two amazing children. I feel like they help me grow everyday. I am so blessed!

That said, I now will turn into a Debbie Downer. I don't know what my problem is. I am having such a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit. I have yet to pull out the decorations, which I am sure will help, but I am just not excited to do it. Poor Spencer has been asking for days, but I just haven't gotten around to it. I love listing to Christmas music, but I am not into the jingles and whatnots. I only am moved or filled when it is something beautiful and spiritual. The traditional songs are just songs on the radio and do not even feel festive to me. I find myself actually feeling sad. I am sure part of it is me missing my girlfriends. Life just isn't the same in our new neighborhood, but I know life in our old neighborhood isn't the same either! Everyone has moved, or is thinking about moving, so there is nothing to be done. I know I will get to know people in our new neighborhood, but life is just crazy for everyone this time of year, so I am sure it will take awhile.

I miss not being close to my family. I know they are just an hour away, but it is the everyday buzz that I miss being involved in. I feel like I am missing out on so much, even though they are busy with their day to day stuff too. It isn't realistic to go down there very often especially when there are schedules to keep and when I have a car that requires premium gasoline!

I have even lost the desire to Christmas shop! What you say? Can it be? It is true my friends, it is true. Actually, I don't know that I ever really liked Christmas shopping. I have a hard time with how commercial everything is. It makes me crazy to hear my little guy ask for everything on TV when he doesn't play with his entire toy room full of toys. Now, I know all children do this, but it just makes me sick to think of how much we have and how many more there are that go without. Go without the simple things, at that! Good thing Santa only brings one present to our house, and they only get a few from Mom and Dad! I do, on the other hand, like the idea of spending time with people I love. I love being able to walk the mall with family and friends laughing, people watching, and shoving my face to satisfy a craving of greasy food court offerings. That is what I want. It isn't to spend money and to get more of the unnecessary, but to be around people I love. I feel like I have been removed from all of that, and maybe that is why I am feeling this way.

I recognize the season has just begun, and I am one who does not begin celebrating the Christmas season until Thanksgiving is over. I have time to warm up to all that the season brings. I also recognize that I need to reach beyond myself and think of others. I need to think of our Savior. I must admit that I have been sluggish in my temple attendance. I have been feeling, or more appropriately, yearning to go. Maybe that is where my sadness is coming from. I am disappointed in the lack of service I have been giving to others. I hope that I will take this opportunity to turn it around. I think that is why I am writing this. I think it will make me more accountable for my actions.

After all that venting, I really must say that even though all my friends live away from me now, as well as my parents and siblings, I love nothing more that being able to be with MY family. I love being home. I love when Kevin gets home and the kids are so excited to hear the door. I love the chaos of our nightly routines. I love jammies, stories, crazy night time hair, and most of all quiet time with Kevin. He is my rock. He loves me even when I am not being loving. My family is the best gift ever, and that is all I need.

So if you read this far, thank you! More importantly, Olivia and Nick Nolte wish you a Happy and Safe Holiday Season!!!

Headbangers BRAWL

Well, we got Spencer's stitches out. Our friend John came over to do the deed because he does this on a daily basis. I thought, hey, lets have a friend do it at our house so it is a more comfortable setting for Spencer. Plus, why not save on gas and a co-pay. Yea. Sadly, I have no pictures or video of the incident. When I say incident, I mean it. There was weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth here. Sorry for the vulgarity, but people, this kid near lost his damn mind! I'm telling you, I wasn't sure we weren't going to be taking that kid back in for more stitches last night. He obviously did not understand that someone was holding scissors to his face! In the end, I had to sit on him, Kevin had to hold his head, and John had to do some quick snippin'. When it was all over Spencer was sweaty and sporting a ma-hor fro from all the wrestling. Now that I think about it, it is probably good we didn't get it on video because Kevin and I would have looked like complete idiots trying to get him under control. John, on the other hand, had a blast. He thought it wouldn't have been nearly as fun if he just sat there.
So what did I learn from this? Either I will just slap a butterfly bandage on the next wound that requires 3 stitches or less, OR I will have a roll of duct tape ready for restraint purposes.

This guy is amazing!

This Weekend Was a Bust...Literally

This weekend I decided to head down to Vegas with the kids to go to Rachel and Miles' wedding. The drive was relatively uneventful, thank heavens, but I can't say that much for the rest of the weekend! On Saturday morning we headed over to Grandma Christensen's to pick her up to go to the temple, and I needed to change into my church clothes as well. I went into the bathroom to change, and when I came out I saw Spencer running and then fall. I heard my dad say "You are OK," so I turned back around into the bathroom to grab my keys. As I turned back towards the kitchen I saw everyone scrambling and Spencer screaming. I kicked off my heals and ran into the family room. Apparently Spencer had pulled a Superman into the coffee table. His face was covered in blood, and so was my dad's shirt. My dad was holding his head, and when he lifted his hand blood just kept pouring out. We got some rags and got the bleeding under control. Once I had a second to get my thoughts under control I started to feel light headed!!! How do people in the medical field do this daily? I am totally not cut out for that crap!


After I changed again, my dad and I took Spence to the Quick Care to get checked out. He was crying the whole way. I tried to prep him for the idea of stitches, but that was a bad idea. He just started freaking out even more. Good thing my dad was there...he told him he could have the biggest size Slurpee when we were done. That totally helped! Thankfully the quick care was empty, and we only had to wait a few minutes before we were taken back. We got a wonderful doctor who Spencer really liked. In the end, Spencer had to get three stitches.


I have to say the whole experience was exhausting. I didn't quite have the energy to last very long at Rachel's reception, which was beautiful, so we headed back early to get everyone in bed. I still haven't quite figured out if the weekend was a bust, but we did have a good time. I am still considering making him wear a helmet for the rest of his childhood. I CANNOT HANDLE ANY MORE HEAD INJURIES!!! Enjoy the pictures. Sit down because they will definitely make you legs hurt!
Eek, my legs hurts us!
Not happy
Blood Brothers
Happy now
Mr. Crazy Eyebrow

Boys & Girls of Every Age???

OK, I will get to this picture in a minute.


















Where do I begin? What a Halloween we had! It all began Monday night when we had our annual Bailey pumpkin carving and chili Family Home Evening. We had a great time eating and demolishing Kevin's parent's home. I think we carved about a dozen pumpkins!!! The kids had a blast running around outside in the AMAZING weather while the adults did all the work. This was the first pumpkin I carved since I was a kid! I had forgotten how fun it can be!




















Tuesday, Olivia came down with a fever, and we were worried that she wouldn't be feeling well enough by Wednesday. Luckily, the fever had gone and we were able to take the kiddies out for a little Trick-or-Treating. I would have been so sad if her cute Dorothy costume went to waste! I swear I was breaking a sweat just trying to get them to take a picture! Spencer didn't mind posing for a cool Ninja shot, but then Oli kept trying to pose like one too. Oh well. I am learning that trying to get a decent picture of my children is like trying to heard cats. Anywho, we went to Kevin's office first and walked around with some other kids getting candy from the employees. We had a quick pizza dinner and were off to the Trunk-or-Treat. Can we say mini van? HELLO! The whole parking lot looked like a mini van dealership! We beat it out of there pretty fast because we ran out of candy, and we had a HUGE bowl of candy!















We went home and Oli and I got our jammies on (Spencer had his under his costume) and were done for the night. Kev took Spencer to a friends house where lots of kids got to hold and pet snakes and spiders! Spencer loved it and now wants a pet python. Thanks John! BTW, John is our friend that hosted this little shin dig and is the one sporting the French maids uniform. Again, thank you John. The word I hear is if you drop a pen, he will pick it up for you!!! Maybe that is not such a good idea.

Oh yea, after Oli went to bed I threw up FIVE times! That is another story, but I am better now. Peace out.