A Cheerful Christmas 2015

I love Christmas time. I love to decorate my house for Christmas. I love to wrap presents and make them really pretty and all matching. I love to send Christmas cards. But this year I was having a little trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. I was realizing that another year had gone by without us growing our family, when we were sure that 2015 would be our year. I was frustrated with my health. I was sad that I was away from home and away from my mom. So one day I bought a Gingerbread house for us to decorate, hoping this would cheer me up. I quickly realized that Chris was not into it like I was and he could really care less  how it looked. So I told him he could do whatever he wanted with his side. Well you can guess who did what side. It actually was pretty entertaining to watch him. He makes me laugh every single day. Oh how I love him. :) 

Used our same decorations that we always use, but mixed it up a little. Loved that matching wrapping paper. 

This year we spent the night at Chris' dad's on Christmas Eve, then Christmas morning we went to his mom's house and opened presents there. It was really nice being with Carol and Brett, and Brett's daughter Claudi. 

Here is Chris showing off his Fitbit.

Jerry was sad because we didn't give him any presents. Poor guy.

We spent the day with family. It was fun seeing the kids come over and open their presents from Grandma.

 The boys actually did the dishes.

We also went back and saw Chris' dad for awhile on Christmas, but for some reason I didn't get any pics! Then that night we went to my mom's. Saturday afternoon we went and saw my dad with all my siblings. Here is Chris playing an intense game of Connect 4 with my nephew. He's going to be such  good dad someday. :) 

We had lots of fun playing with kids and opening presents at my mom's. It was also nice to be at my mom's and see her in her house. We continue to pray that she can still get well enough to go back home. 

Just sitting in a laundry basket eating a cheat.

My mom got all the guys aprons to BBQ with.

 My brother went in with us to get my mom a new TV for her room-so she can watch Netflix and everything. She was excited.

 Sunday we went to the Care Center and went to church with my mom there. I got to sit by these 2 cuties. 

 BEST PICTURE EVER!

My mom with some of her grandkids.

It turned out to be a great Christmas, even though our lives aren't what we had pictured they would be at this point in time. We are so thankful for all that we have, for our home and our jobs, for our wonderful family and their love. We had a great 2015 and are so blessed. 

Our New Year's wasn't anything special. We had been invited to different places for New Year's Eve, but then neither ended up working out. So we stayed home and watched TV and Chris went to bed at like 10:30 because he was so tired. I stayed up and read for about an hour before giving in and going to sleep. Be we had a good New Year's Day just being together.

My top 5 things from 2015: 

1. Spending 3 weeks in Seattle with my mom, sister-in-law and nephew while my mom did radiation the radiation was not the fun part, but being with those three was!)

2.Trip to the Tetons/Yellowstone with Chris' family

3. Trip to Disneyland/Universal Studios with Chris

4. Joining Usborne Books and More and earning a free cruise

5. No medical bills this year! (Even though we had medical problems)

We also got to do other fun things, like see my oldest niece married in the temple, go to my youngest niece's baby blessing in Wyoming, etc. We also had hard things-seeing my mom sick and how hard of a year she had, being in the hospital and dealing with a feeding tube and TPN, and finding out the only way we will have a baby of our own is with IVF-and being faced with the decision of that or adoption. But we are stronger because of these things and I know 2016 will be a great year!

Thanksgiving

A few weeks before Christmas I realized that Kyler and Stephanie wouldn't be in Burley for Thanksgiving and the thought of waiting till Christmas to see them was too much (I hadn't seen them since the 4th of July). So I called Kyler and told him they should come see me. They came down the week before Thanksgiving and stayed the whole weekend. We had so much fun! We just hung out and visited a lot. We went to the Rec Center in Vernal and went swimming. My little buddy wasn't too sure of the water at first but he warmed up to it. Kyler, Chris and Steph went down the big slides. I couldn't because of my PICC line. I just waded in the water mostly, keeping my arm above water. They went to church with us on Sunday as well. We had dinner, and then they went home.  

   

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house this year. We are kind of off on our schedule, but Tysi and Chad were both there. Then the next day we ate dinner at Chris' dad's house, and Saturday we had the famous After-THanksgiving-Breakfast at Chris' mom's house. 

Katie's boys enjoying the breakfast

Love hanging out with this little girl. 

Friday night my brother Brock came to my mom's, so we all went to church with her the next day. These are his two girls. So fun!

I think this pic was taken in October when we went home one weekend and went to my nephew's ordination to become a Deacon.

Here are just some other random pics from November

We went on a date and went bowling and we each won one game. :)

Halloween

We had a pretty good Halloween. We carved pumpkins, though not as detailed as normal. Neither of us really had the energy for that. We went to our ward Halloween party and Trunk or Treat the Wednesday before Halloween. The Young Women were in charge of some games that I helped with. I dressed up as Minnie Mouse. Chris was a Party Pooper. (He didn't want to dress up!) Halloween night we had our adult session of Stake Conference so we weren't home for Trick or Treaters which was kind of sad, but Stake Conference was good!

In October I also had an Usborne Book party (more about that in another post) and I made these treats for it. They were so cute. :)

Happy Halloween!

CALIFORNIA!!

For several months I have been begging Chris to take me to Disneyland. Well pretty much since we got married, lol. I love it. I found a good deal on tickets and hotels through a blog that I read called Freebies2Deals. She puts together a discounted Disney trip every year. We hadn't been on a trip together since our Honeymoon to the Bahamas and our 4 year Anniversary is next week. So around the end of June or beginning of July we booked the trip. I have been counting down the days! It was almost spoiled by tube feeding and an ER visit just a few days before we left, but luckily I was feeling better and had a PICC line and TPN by the time we left. We left on Tuesday the 21 and got to our hotel late that night. We went to Disneyland/California Adventure Wednesday and Thursday and Universal Studios Friday, then flew home Saturday.

Here we are on the plane-so excited!

First thing when we got there, we went and got a Disability Access Pass. It basically was like another Fast Pass. There were a few places in the park where we could go and get a return time for a ride, so we didn't have to stand in line. My biggest fear was standing in line for an hour and getting to the front and not being able to get on because my bag was full and might burst open. Also with my rheumatoid arthritis and just being in the hospital, I didn't have enough energy to stand for very long. It worked out great and only waited in one regular line, that was only 10 minutes long. We didn't get to rides tons and tons of rides, but all the main ones that I wanted to. We even rode a couple rides that I had never been on in the other 3 times I'd been there. :) 

One of the things I really wanted to do was get a picture with Minnie, and get a picture with some princesses. I never had before, but that was the great thing about going with Chris. He let us do whatever I wanted. :) We only waited for about a half hour for Minnie and a half hour for the 3 Princesses. I was excited.

My Uncle Parley and Aunt Marilynn had a trip planned there with all their kids and grandkids too for a long time, unbeknownst to us until a few days before we left. It was fun running into them a few time. This is my cousin Katie and I. :)

Indiana Jones is probably my favorite ride after Space Mountain. When we rode I was super disappointed that the big ball didn't come out and we didn't get to drop down below it suddenly at the end of the ride. I asked the cast member if they took that part out of the ride, and he said that sometime when it gets backed up, they skip that part so they don't get cars running into each other. So we started to walk away, and he called back to us. When I turned around he asked if we wanted to go on it again, so of course I said yes and he let us right back on! And the ball came out that time. I loved it.

The first day we were at Disneyland I really felt like I was getting a UTI. I actually started feeling so I filled a standing antibiotic that I have and brought it with us. But it wasn't helping. We went back to our hotel around 7 pm to rest before the parade that night, but I was in so much pain we ended up taking a taxi to the closest Urgent Care. I felt so ridiculous, like kind of silly that this was happening. When did I become the girl that is always sick?! I was so upset over the inconvenience and extra cost of it all, but in the end I got a different antibiotic and we were able to continue our trip. At some point that first day I just accepted the fact that we would have to take it slow and not rush from ride to ride like I would have liked. Everything turned out fine.

The next day we decided to rent a wheelchair so I could save my energy, and because I was having a lot of pain from the UTI. It saved us. I would not have been able to walk everywhere we went. Made me feel like a big wimp, but whatever. Like I said, I accepted it. When we went to get a return time for a ride at Disneyland the lady recognized us from the day before. She said, "Oh no, don't tell me you wore yourself out yesterday and did too much!" I told her that I just wasn't feeling well and we had to go to urgent care the night before. She told us to hold on for a minute while she scanned something on our tickets. She told us she gave us something called a Re-Add. It was basically like a Fastpass but we didn't have to go get a return time first. It was awesome. She gave it to us for 2 rides at Disneyland and 2 at California Adventure. We went to the hotel around lunch to take a nap so I could last until the parade that night, and then went back to California Adventure, so we didn't even use the ones at Disneyland, but oh well. It was really nice of her. 

Snagged another pic with Minnie! I loved that it was Halloween time there!

Waiting for the parade in my wheelchair and new sweatshirt. :)

At California Adventure we only rode 4 rides. I felt pretty crummy. I took pain medicine because I was so miserable and that made me tired and nauseated. I could only eat a couple french fries and half a chicken strip at lunch, but I was very determined to still ride the big roller coaster and the Tower of Terror, so I did. And I survived. :) We also rode Soarin' Over California and the Little Mermaid ride, which I had never been on. I think it's right up there with Peter Pan. LOVED it.

Around dinner time I FINALLY started to feel better. I ate a half a grilled cheese sandwich and half a bowl of tomato soup. We went and bought all our souvenirs and then went and found a spot to watch the parade. It was only about 7 pm but we were both pretty tired and were totally fine just sitting and waiting.

The parade was amazing, of course. The things they can do are so cool. I thought the wait was worth it! We stayed in the same place and watched the Fireworks right after. I was so glad we got to see both, since we didn't get to do either the night before.

The next day was Universal Studios. I think Chris enjoyed this a lot more than Disneyland. I don't think he was too impressed with Disneyland, lol. But he was a good sport. We also got a disability pass at Universal Studios and didn't have to wait in any lines. We did every ride except for we didn't see 2 of the shows offered. It was not crowded AT ALL, which was really nice. I was feeling much better as far as pain and nausea, just kind of tired. But we were still able to get everything in, even with having to leave at 6 pm because they closed for their Halloween Party. I went without the wheelchair too.

We were also able to get some fun pictures with characters. I was beyond excited when I saw Lucille Ball. I had never seen her there before. Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge fan of I Love Lucy. My first car was named Lucy because it was red, lol. I would love to name a daughter Lucy, except I don't think I like the sound of Lucy Leiser. :)

Well I got way off subject, but anyway, it was lots of fun. Chris particularly enjoyed the Water World show. I've seen it twice before and didn't even know it was a movie. I just thought it was something to show all their tricks and special effects. So when we got home Chris rented the movie on Amazon Prime and made me watch it. It wasn't too bad.

Favorite ride!

It was nice to get back to our hotel a little earlier than normal and pack our stuff. We had to get up at 3 the next morning because for some unknown reason our shuttle was picking us up at 4 am. Our flight wasn't until 6:55. They weren't even open to check our bags until 5, so we sat and waited for like 45 minutes. I slept the entire day. While we waiting to check our bags, on both planes, the WHOLE 2 1/2 hour drive home, and when we got home I literally walked in and went straight upstairs to our bed and slept for another 2 hours. I was exhausted to say the least, but it was worth it.