Christmas 2012

Christmas seems like it was ages ago, now that we're counting down the days til Spring time. 

This next picture pretty much sums up our Christmas season. It was about 5:15 pm, exactly one week before Christmas and we were on our way to get a Christmas tree. The boys crashed. 

Because of our move, Our Christmas season was quick and exhausting but very happy. It included a beautiful tree in our nearly empty living room, a wonderful night down town at temple square, and our big Christmas eve festivities. 

 Christmas Eve is always such a full and happy day with so much family. We spent the afternoon at the Peters home with a nativity, a talent show, an amazing meal and a visit from Santa. Clay and Telisa made a surprise visit and the whole family was there! We are grateful for Grandma Kat and her HARD work on these celebrations. She is a hostess like i've never known before and has a talent for making each family member feel loved. 

                                                          A smooch from aunt Tristen

                                                                   Owen the shepherd

Flying with uncle Travis

The little boys, missing Redd.

All the cousins with Santa

Then, we went to the Bell's where the boys opened jammies and a gift from one another. We sang Christmas carols with Grandpa Ellertson on the Trombone and Grandma at the Piano. This has always been one of my favorite evenings of all the year. Since I was a little girl I have looked forward to the cozy night in my parents warm home, with the frosty windows and the crackling fire. My Grandparents bring such a sweet presence. Everyone is happy and full of love for each other. Singing those sacred hymns bring a testiment of Christ and his birth and his life like nothing else does.

Lately

We've been busy. It seems as though Treavor's life is a whirlwind of constant motion. He is from school, to work, to housework, to homework. I have been so impressed at the way he handles his CRAZY life and having sleepless nights(literally) and huge amounts of stress with work quotas and group projects. The last couple of weeks have been overwhelming with a business trip to las vegas and big work loads at both work and school. He never ceases to amaze me with his good atitude, always making time for his family.

Treavor and I spoke in our new ward. I spoke on God is merciful and Treavor's topic was God is just. It was such a good topic for us at this point in our life, and has really made me view daily life in a different way. I was grateful for the opportunity to think about the many, many ways God shows mercy to me.

One recent way that my family felt His mercy, was when my dad had a minor heart attack a few weeks ago.  He was shoveling snow and started feeling pain in his heart and left arm. He was taken to the hospital where tests were done and he got stints put in his artery. Although it was a little alarming when we heard the news, we were never too concerned, because my parents were staying so calm. I was so grateful when we heard that his body has a great "warning system". Other than feeling more tired than usual, he is healthy and back to normal. This experience made me think a lot about how blessed I am to have my dad in my life! It made me think about the human body, and how incredible it is. The way all our organs work together and the way that his body told him that he needed help is miraculous. It made me think that I take my body and health for grantid, and was inspiring to take better care of my beating  heart.

Lewis Lately:
Our little Grabby-crazy-gooey-lewie is still all of those things. He has started speech therapy with a sweet lady named Julie. She comes to our house twice a month. He is always ecstatic that someone has come to our home with a giant bag of toys and puzzles just to sing and play with him. It's so cute to watch him interact with her. He's already made a lot of progress and is experimenting with lots of words. This boy has energy! He is busy from sun up to sun down. He dances whenever he hears music and has such cute rhythm. He asks for music every time we're in the car by grunting and dancing. He eats anything, plays anything, waves to everyone...he is up for living life. He is at a fun stage, seeming so old, yet still a pudgy baby. It cracks me up that he will chew a piece of gum, chomping like a teenager for hours on end, and throw it away when he's done, but still has a teeny list of words he'll say.  He crashes hard at night and loves his bottle more than life itself.

Owen Lately

Owie boy is bright and inquisitive. He is loving school! He has been such a good brother. His squirmy little brother requires a LOT of patience, and most days owen has it. It has been incredible to watch him grow physically and mentally the last few months. Yesterday Treavor called him a smart cookie and Owen said "will you PLEASE stop calling me a cookie?!" Its a phrase he hears a lot, because we are constantly surprised at what he knows and remembers. He is an introvert in the biggest way and thrives off of Lewie's nap time, which is Owen's quiet time. He plays cars every day durring quiet time using Marley's round bed or a rug as the race track. I have been so impressed at how quickly and easily he got adjusted to our new home and neighborhood. He loves primary, and even went to play at a new friends house without any hesitation. His mind runs so fast and he has an imagination like i've never seen. 

 Marley Lately:
He got lost! It was my fault. A week ago, Treavor was at class. I let Marley out to go potty and totally forgot (our back yard isn't fenced off and Im not used to that). I made dinner, ate dinner, bathed the boys, put them down, cleaned up for a while and it wasn't til I was measuring fabric on the floor for some curtains I was making that I realized he should be right by my side. I had let him out 2 hours earlier! I immediately ran outside and started calling and whistling. I called my parents in a panic and they both came over in separate cars to search the neighborhood. He was gone. He didn't have a tag on because he got a new collar for Christmas and we hadn't replaced the faded phone number. Animal services was closed for the night and didn't open til 10:30 the next morning. It was such a sad night, with lots of tears shed by me and gram. We are nuts! My mom and I kept talking about how he's such a dumb animal that we love so much. when I called at 10:30 on the dot they said he was there! someone had called from our very street the night before. WHEW! such a relief. Gram went and picked him up for us and came back with a magnet that she had purchased that says "I'm a good dog, I just do bad things" we cracked up at the whole situation because this is SO not an animal family, but it was kind of rocking our world when he was missing. I should have a magnet that says "I'm a good owner, I just do bad things".

Time

I have tucked my busy little bundles in, and it's that time of night when my dramatic, reflective side hits. Time flies! I hear that phrase a lot, I use it a lot, so much that it stops meaning as much. But tonight, it meant a lot. as I kissed my boys sweet cheeks. I couldn't really bare the thought of how fast four years of motherhood has gone. And by fast, I don't mean fast, but I don't know how else to describe it. 4 years has felt like 4 years. and when I say "I can't believe Owen is 4 and lewis is 20 months" well I can believe it, It makes sense. What I really mean is, how am I supposed to cope with the fact that they grow and change in such a constant way?! How am I supposed to be ok that Owen's wrist rolls are gone and Lewie is not much of a baby anymore? How am I supposed to be ok with the fact that Owen's thick curls and munchkin voice were only here for a fleeting moment. How do i deal with the fact that I will never see Lewie's pudgy diaper bum crawl across the floor again? Motherhood is such an indescribable whirlwind. It is such a mix of vivid memories and time making things a blur. A mix of missing old times and loving the present. A mix of happy and sad, and needing the past and wanting the future. You know in Malachi where we are told that such blessings will be poured out that we will not have room enough to receive it? Thats exactly what it is. My heart literally does not have room to receive these two miraculous blessings. I am so blessed with the past and the present that I don't know how to handle it. 

Some pictures from the fall, that make me so happy:

 When we lived with the Peters, helping Treav drive home from church was a favorite!

Thanksgiving

 We had Thanksgiving a few days early with the Peters family. The day began with a 5K around their neighborhood and was followed by an incredible meal. Lewie felt so old running as fast as his little legs could carry him. It was the perfect way to celebrate the holiday, I loved being out on a crisp fall morning with time to use my healthy body to run and think about all that I have to be grateful for...many of my greatest blessings were running right beside me.

Thanksgiving day was spent at the Bell home with another incredible meal! it felt small this year, we missed our brothers and their families badly! 

This year more than ever, I was overwhelmed with thanks. I have so very much. with each year my blessings grow and sometimes I  am and in awe at how happy my life is and how fortunate I am.

Dreaming of blue skies.

I have a lot to get organized, here in our new house, and photos is one of them. One of our computers broke a few months ago (the one I used for photos and blogging) and it just kind of threw a wrench in the whole system. So here I am on this snowy, stormy winter night looking through these images of our very happy Summer, that I just couldn't let go undocumented. 

A day at the park, just me and the fellas. 

That green grass and sunshine are looking pretty amazing right now!

Reunited

I have come to a conclusion; I will always be indebted to both my parents and Treavor's. Recently more than ever, I have been so grateful and humbled at the endless sacrifice they are willing to make for us and our children. The Peters inviting us into their home, and welcoming us with open arms, is such a huge act of love.  For the first couple months in their home, Marley lived in their back yard. Soon after we moved in, construction on a pool began and soon the yard was transformed into a beautifully landscaped sanctuary that Marley was no longer compatible with. After Treavor and I weighed some options, and thought of long term boarding for Marley, or animal lover friends who might be willing to watch him, it came down to the fact that the only realistic option was to give him away. Get rid of our dog!! it broke my heart. Well guess who didn't want my heart to be broken? My dad! Justin Bell, the biggest anti-dog person I think I've ever met. My parents offered to take care of Marley, and just the idea of the gesture has brought me to tears more than once. He was so loved, taken care of and, really treated more like a person by Gram and all the girls. 

You can imagine that one of the joys of moving into our new home, was being reunited with Marley. It is so great to have him around again. The boys are in love with him, and he puts up with so much. He spends most of the day with one or both boys on top of him, poking his eyes, or pulling his ears, tail or mouth. We are so happy to have our pooch back and today happened to be his 6th birthday! We celebrated with balloons and singing. 

At the party store, Owen told the young, cute cashier that "we're buying balloons for Marleys birthday" she responded by asking how old Marley was turning. Owen said "six" and then she said "that is so fun" after we sat their silently for  minute while she rung us up he said proudly "hes' our dog". The cashier and I looked at each other and started laughing really hard.  I don't think that's normal, but it gave us something to do today.

Lewis spilled his protein drink. Marley's head was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

 playing peek-a-boo

 Taking our dirty dog to get a bath.

I guess I should stop claiming to not be a "dog person" considering, I just wrote a whole post on my crazy dog that I love so much.

We bought a house

We bought a house.
We moved in about a month ago, and have had a lack of internet, time and sanity in explanation for the absence. I missed writing my feelings away, but part of me is grateful that i haven't had the blog at my fingertips to express my every thought, because too many of them may have been negative. We are however past the hardest part and life is so very good right now. Beyond good.

Our orignal plan after selling the town home in Lehi and moving into the Peters' home was to search for a fixer upper, fix it up, sell it and do that a few times to earn some school money. Well we found a fabulous fixer upper. The hard part is, we (mostly I) are in love with this house and don't want to leave as quickly as planned. I tend to get attached to things, and this attachment happend quickly.

The house is just east of sugarhouse in the canyon rim area. It was built in 1948 and we bought it from a women who is 91 years old and lived in it since it was built! Some things that I love about it:

that it only had one owner who took such great care of it
the layout (three bedrooms upstairs, we all sleep close together)
squeaky hardwood floors
red brick
garage (i've never had a garage!)
Location!! It feels so great to be in salt lake. We are close to everything we need
The ward. Friendly, down to earth, variety of people, ages, personalities
fireplace
it feels like home.

The women we bought the house from is named norma. We met her twice while looking through the home, and we talked to Owen a few times about how "norma wanted to sell her house, and she'd like us to buy it from her" Owen still talks about the house like it's norma's. I love it because I think she was sad to leave. she said to us frequently that she was just so happy that a good family was going to take good care of her house. I think as long as we're living here, a part of norma will too.

A few things Owen has said the last month while living in our new home:
"can we play in norma's basement?"
"does norma have Christmas lights up?"
"what color are norma's Christmas lights?"
"does norma have tunafish?"
"let's go home to norma's"
"when will we paint norma's walls?"

The last little while we have been trying to make this house our home, by pulling carpet out, painting walls, scrubbing everything, pulling paneling down, framing a basement, patching holes, replacing hardware... we still have a long way to go, but it feels so good to see the progress that's been made, and watch it all unfold. I will forever, ever be grateful for Dennis who found this house for us, and has helped us so much with the remodel. It is his passion and we benefit greatly from his talent and love for fixing, repairing, building, replacing, refurbishing, remodling and everything else an old home might need.

Stay tuned for updates on the rest of our life from the last little while.