I'm so thankful for all my blessings.

I've been reminded a lot in the last couple of days how blessed I am and how precious life is. We have seen how quickly your life can be turned upside down and what is truly important. On Thursday, some good friends of ours had a baby. They knew ahead of time of the complications that the baby had and that the prognosis was not very good. When he was born, it seemed like things were going better than expected and that even though things could change quickly, it appeared he would be able to beat the odds. Today the doctors found bleeding on the brain and knew they would not be able to do more for him and the decision was made to take him off life support. I can't imagine how they must be feeling right now. My heart aches for them and the pain they are suffering.

Another good friend just had her (almost) 4yr old nephew diagnosed with Leukemia. Nick and I were talking about how devastated we would be if we got the news one of our children had cancer. Thinking about all of this made me appreciate my boys so much more tonight. I just left the dishes and the rest of the kitchen in a mess and spent the night playing with them. It was good for all of us to just play basketball and read and tickle and laugh and play sleeping beauty and the handsome prince and just appreciate that they are healthy and happy. I hope I will be less likely to complain when they are so active.

On Saturday night we received a call that Nick's dad had a heart attack. When we went and saw him at the hospital, it seemed like it had been a pretty minor one and he would be going home the next day after a few tests. Well today we found out that 5 of his arteries are 90 percent blocked and he will be having major bypass surgery tomorrow.

These last few days have really made me take stock of everything good in my life. I am so blessed!!

A little piece of heaven

For Christmas, Nick gave me a set of fleece sheets. If you like cozy warm beds, I highly recommend getting some. It's like being wrapped up in a combination of hot chocolate, a fireplace, a new sweatshirt, slippers, a new robe...all things comforting!

Not much to look at but she sure could kiss!

We've had a hard couple of days. Last Thursday, we had to put our cat Callie to sleep. We could tell that she was not doing super great--she was even more skinny than normal, but she seemed to be doing okay. Then last Wednesday she just seemed to crash and it was like her body was shutting down. We finally decided it was time to take her in. Even though we knew it was time, it was still so hard. We have had her for about 12 years and she was such a sweet cat--even though most people didn't even know we had her--she was very timid and would hide if anyone was here. I will sure miss her sitting on my lap every night as I stay up way too late playing on the computer.

She loved to lick hair (not so much mine since it was too long)

And when she wanted to lick you, she would stand up and grab you!

Coaching pays off!

A couple of nights ago, Sam made my day when he started saying "mama mama mama" I know he has no idea that he is saying my name, but it still tickles me pink!! I've always heard that kids usually say Dad first, but both of my boys said my name first. I feel loved!

My first New Years resolution shot to hell!!

So yeah, I was really going to try and do a better job of updating the blog more frequently. But we are still in Jan, so there is still hope for a better year!

The holidays were great. We spent almost a week in Parowan which was very relaxing, but not restful by any means. We ended up staying up way too late each night playing games or talking with family. It was great having my brother Kyle and sisters Paige and Chalise there. We were also able to spend some time with friends, but it is never enough time! I think that I am now ready to cut the apron strings a little and we will start celebrating Christmas at our home (it will be the 1st time away from Parowan). I just think I want to start our own family traditions. But I have a whole year to prepare for that moment right???

New Years Eve was a lot of fun. We spent it with 4 other families in our ward and just had a bunch of yummy food and played some games. The best part was bringing the boys home early with a couple of the older kids so we could go back and play. Love the child free time!!!

Things are going alright here. Sam finally got his first tooth on New Years Day and his 2nd is ready to break through any day now. Both boys have been sick for awhile with the runny nose, cough, sneeze thing....oh yeah, they are ornery too!

Nick got a promotion at work and is now heading up a new service at the bank which is sometimes referred to as Premire Banking. Basically he is in charge of taking care of the top customers the bank has. He has been promoted faster than anyone in his department. EVER. I'm so proud of my honey!!

Here are some pictures of the highlights of the last month!

Sam having his first chat with Santa. Notice Sam's long hair?? Let me tell you about the conversation that happened at our house that night after the kids were in bed.....

Nick: "Oh Michelle, you are so observant"

Me: "What, did you get your hair cut today?"

Nick: "No, I didn't"

Me: "Did you cut Sam's hair tonight?" (I had been visiting teaching)

Nick: "Yes, and you didn't even notice, so you can't give me a hard time about not noticing things".

*****Slience******

Me: "So you cut my babies hair for the first time without me. Did you take any pictures?"

Nick: "No"

Me: "Did you save any hair?"

Nick: "Umm....no"

Me: Hmmmm (which was NOT said in a happy tone of voice)

Nick: "I'm so sorry, it is still in the garbage, let me go look for you. I know I can find some under the spaghetti that you threw out. I just know I can find some, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..." grovel grovel :-)

Nick has now learned that you NEVER do any of the firsts without me present with the camera!

Seth decorating his first Gingerbread house.

Giving the Wise Men a ride on the ferris wheel. I'm sure it was a first for them.

We acted out the Nativity scene on Christmas Eve. I was Mary and Sam was a little lamb (we had to improvise with a couple of the costumes....)

Nick was Joseph and my nephew Kimball was baby Jesus.

Seth was a shepherd and my niece Myra was the angel. She loves playing dress-up with all of our old dance costumes and she was so excited to be the angel.

The kids with their new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Seth was so excited about his new "Big Thomas".

Sam actually had fun unwrapping a few presents.

Our little Jedi Seth-Wan-Kanobi

My gals!!! When I lived in Cedar we had a tradition of making Chinese food on New Years Eve and since we wouldn't be there this year, we had to do it a little early. Great times!

Can you tell who likes Nutella? And really, who doesn't?

I've been tagged (which is better than being tasered)

Okay, so Chalise tagged me awhile ago, but I haven't been able to really thing of anything that interesting about me. The rules state that you are supposed to list 6 facts/habits about yourself and try to find 6 you haven't already posted about! So after much thought and deliberation, this is the best I could come up with.

1) I have an extreme case of OCD in certain areas. My closet has to be organized by color and length of sleeve. Not only that, but the shirts have to either match the color of hanger or the hanger has to be white. I find that it is easier to find your clothes that way and it just looks nicer. I have been known to sneak into my sisters closet and fix hers to my liking. Of course she got me back by screwing mine up. I also have an obsession with towels, they have to be hung straight. Decks of cards have to be facing the same direction when put away. Lightswitches have to reflect correctly if the light is on or off. If there are 2 switches to the same light and the light is off, they both need to be down. When we moved into this house, Nick had to change a bunch of outlets so they would be correct. Luckily it bugs him too. I'm also a "binky nazi" I have to know where every binky in the house is and it will drive me insane if one is missing. Same with sets of toys...you know I was going to write more, but I am realizing how insane I am. I'll stop now.

2) I have a nose like no other. One of the most common phrases in my house is "What is that smell!?!?!?" I was worried that when I was pregnant it would kill me, but luckily my sense of smell seems to diminish when I am prego instead of becoming more intense like normal people.

3) It isn't necessarily something to be proud of many times, but Dick Cheney is a relative. His wife Lynne and my dad are cousins. In fact, in her latest book she acknowledges my parents. I'm sure he is a nice enough guy, but I'm still not going shooting with him!

4) I'm a perfectionist. Not in all areas, but if I can't do something perfectly, it usually stops me from even trying. Nick says I am getting better, but if I do something and it isn't perfect, I will just complain about it unceasingly.

5) I hate shopping for gifts. Especially for close friends or family. Actually for most anybody. If it's someone that I should know really well and know what they would like and I can't come up with the perfect gift then I get totally stressed out. If there are times that I do think of something that would be great, then I love buying stuff. Like tonight, I figured out what my dad would love for Christmas and I'm excited to give it to him.

6) I am a fountain of useless celebrity knowledge. I keep up with all that crap. Yes, it is pretty pathetic, but you never know when the latest antics of Britney or Paris may help me out when I get a little too wild and forget to wear panties or drive while intoxicated.

Well, that is me. I'm sure it is very enlightening and disturbing at the same time. Whoever reads this and wants to be tagged, then I tag you. I know for sure that Paige, Jamie, Kristin, Julene, Melodie, and all the Liechty family members haven't done this, so if you feel like sharing, please do so. And Susy, I heard you found my blog (I'm guessing through Kim??) so if you haven't done this yet, then I would love to read yours as well - I love reading your blog and the pictures of the boys golfing really made me miss Cedar.

My nephew Kimball. He is the cutest little thing and this picture just cracks me up!

Me and my dog. We are hoping he will make it until Christmas. We took him back in and he has 3 tumors in his chest. He seems to be doing fine right now, but if he takes a turn for the worse and his quality of living goes down, then we will have to say our goodbyes :-(

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree now does it?

Seth showing his excitment for his new remote control super loader that he got from grandma and grandpa for his b-day.

Sam showing that he really can crawl. Of course now that he has learned to crawl, he has forgotten how to roll over so if he somehow ends up on his back, he just lays there like a turtle, crying until someone comes and rescues him.

This is what our couch does to Seth's hair--and the picture doesn't do it justice!

Sam on the tree hunt. I've learned that it is much harder once you have kids and I'm glad at times that we have our fake tree (even though it is just not the same as the real thing).

The boys love taking baths!

Not quite sure what happened to the corner of this picture though!

Seth's 3rd b-day cake. You can't really tell from this picture, but it was actually quite twisted. I didn't have time to do anything fancy, but I didn't want it to be a plain cake either. I had a few new emergency vehicles that I was saving for Christmas, but I thought I could just make a road with frosting and put them on and he would be thrilled. Well, I also got some of his bushes, animals and signs from his old train set. Nick noticed that I had a pedestrian crossing sign so he asked if he should make a crosswalk with the frosting. That got our sickly creative juices flowing and we decided to have a truck hitting the pedestrian in the crosswalk and the ambulance, firetruck and police car there assisting. Our friends asked if counseling was one of his b-day presents. I'm sure someday it will have to be.

Sam loves to give Bo noggins.

Santa's little helper.

These are 4 of my friends in the neighborhood. We were all due within 6 weeks of each other(in order starting on the right and going left) and every one of us had a boy.

I do not want to be in Nursery this time next year!!!

Here are the boys at around 4 months old.

And again at about 8 months old

The best friends a girl could ask for.

This is on our (probably 10th) semi-annual overnight shopping/eating/staying up way too late laughing trip to St. George.

I miss you guys!!!!