Bad Mommy

I have been having a bad Mom kind of week. First I clipped Shayla's leg in one of her onesies. Then she had a clumsy kind of day and kept falling hard on asphalt while we were walking places. (Of course we ran into my little old German lady neighbor. Who we only seem to see when Shayla has just fallen or is tired or is crying hysterical for one reason or another. I swear she is going to call Child Protective Services on me.) Shayla was left with a big goose egg from that day.

Then she was watching cartoons on the couch and I guess she thought it would be a good idea to fall face first into her toy bin on the floor. So we added a few more bruises. But wait, it gets better!

Shayla woke up Friday morning having slept in a poopy diaper all night long. Her bum cheeks were about the color of a fire truck. So she ran around naked all Friday.

But the best moment of all was when she fell down the stairs yesterday. Yes my child fell down the stairs. Well actually she fell down A stair. Just one. This of course was right after I was bragging to Jon about how well she was doing on the stairs. I didn't think too much of the spill until she wasn't able to walk on her left foot. Luckily for me our best friends here just happen to be doctors. We didn't rush to the emergency room, we rushed to Jason and Carrie's apartment. Luckily they reassured us it was just a sprain.

Can anything else happen to this little girl? I'm afraid to ask... Bad. Mommy.

Christmas Craziness.

There are some days when I feel like a wonder Mom/wife. I even have the shirt to prove it. This last week has been full of days where at the end I just sit back and sigh. To put it lightly I have been a busy bee. Between Christmas Shopping and food shopping and Laundry and decorating for Christmas and wrapping Christmas presents and working on Christmas presents/projects and baking and writing a Christmas letter and addressing all of our Christmas letters and buying Jon new pants (since he apparently forgot how to shop for himself) and  all of my regular cooking and cleaning and Shayla activities. I have even found time to take Shayla to the park during all of this Christmas Craziness.

Since the next week will be occupied with baking goodies (that will definitely make me gain back the 5 pounds I've lost), I have decided to document it with photo's. (The food, not my gaining weight)

These are truffles. And in case you are wondering they are divine! mmmm... I love chocolate!

These are the ones that wouldn't fit in the two large containers that I put in the freezer. Darn it all, I'm just going to have to eat them. HARD. LIFE. I was even nice enough to send Jon links to presents that I would like so that he could just order it online since he is working 15 hour days. My only request is to have him for part of Christmas Eve and all of Christmas. I don't think that's asking for much.

Our Christmas Tree Adventure!

We decided to cut our own Christmas tree this year. There is an adorable little tree farm on the way to Half Moon Bay with Santa and train rides and everything you would think was a little kids dream. So we packed up the car and headed down there with Carrie, Jason and Lola.

Here's Shayla on the car ride there.  She was giving me a huge cheesy grin seconds before this but the darn flash on the camera took too long to charge so I ended up with an "Are you crazy Mom" look.

Shayla had fun wandering around looking at the trees and even found one that she really liked. Too bad it was $50 regardless of the size of the tree or else we might have bought one for her room too. It kind of reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

The girls had a lot of fun playing with each other. They are about as cute as they come. Each of them gets so excited when they hear each others name or see the other one. And you all know that Shayla likes to go and knock on their door.

Lola decided she liked the tree as well....

Isn't it gorgeous here? Kind of strange to be looking for a Christmas tree when it's 65 and sunny outside! 

We didn't like any of the trees there so Jon had to at least pretend like he was going to cut one down.

Like I mentioned before there was a Santa there. So Jon got the camera ready and I laughed my head off. What a great picture! I think you can see all the way to her tonsils. I laughed so hard. Maybe that makes me a mean Mom. Bahaha! Poor Santa....

Then we headed back to Mountain View and picked up a tree from our local super market. It was actually significantly less and looked a lot better. I picked my favorite one and it is MASSIVE. I wasn't sure if it would fit in our apartment. Jason and Carrie actually cut down a tree while we were at the tree farm but it had leaches on it so we left it there and walked away very slowly to not raise suspicion. Here are the proud Daddy's. The really huge tree hanging out of the back is ours....

There were a few low hanging branches that needed to be cleared away so Jon was happy to take his machete to it. Oh, yes, he used a machete. Shayla was placed in her highchair so she would be safe and out of the way.

Here is the finished product! Our apartment is now decorated and smells nice and piney. MMM... It's beginning to SMELL a lot like Christmas, even if it isn't beginning to LOOK a lot like Christmas. Don't get me started on my season confusion! (Notice how it barely fits? There is about an inch of space above the tree before it hits the ceiling.)

Can you tell he's her Daddy?

I came across this picture of Jon's first birthday the other day...

And now for Shayla's first birthday...

I've decided that she has my eyes and just about everything else is Jon. All of these are old pictures now. It amazes me how fast she is growing up. It's interesting to look at old pictures of each of us. I think Jon and I must have looked similar as babies. It will be interesting to see who she turns out being more like. Some people say she is all her Momma and others think she is her Daddy. I think she is a pretty good mix.

I forgot how to use a camera...

Not really. But in the 2 1/2 weeks I was in Utah I managed to not take any pictures at all! You'll just have to believe me that I was there.

We had a great time catching up with friends and family. Took advantage of having Grandparents around and went out on as many dates as possible, and spent way too much money!

Here are a few of the highlights. The Friday after Thanksgiving I dragged Jon to the art exhibit at BYU. I'm a huge fan of Carl Bloch and I told him that I was going with or without him. It was one of the few things I wanted to accomplish while we were there. It was FANTASTIC! Everyone who has an opportunity to go, should. Such a wonderful exhibit that focuses on the Saviors life and so interesting to see the inspiration that can go into a work of art.

When we arrived we were standing waiting to hand someone our ticket and check in our coat. Jon pulled on my arm and motioned to a man standing about 100 feet away from us and said, "Isn't that a General Authority?" It was. It was Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It was exciting seeing an apostle that close to you. And not on a stand or something. We checked in our coats and he was not more than two feet away from us when we walked out of the coat check room. We smiled at him and were prepared to go on our way, not wanting to impose. But he turned to us and shook our hands and asked what our names were. He then proceeded to introduce himself. (As if we didn't know who he was, we haven't grown up listening to him speak in General Conference or anything.) I looked at him and with a twinkle in my eye, said, "Oh, we know who you are." He, and everyone in his group, laughed at us and we went on our way. Such an amazing way to start that exhibit. It definitely helped put us in the right spirit. We rented ipads for the tour and it was amazing. Carl Bloch was so inspired.

We were also able to attend the baby blessing of Dan and Lisa Argyle's little girl, Lydia. You forget how little babies are. They grow up so fast. I feel like every time I turn around Shayla has grown up a little bit more. I'm sure that they will continue the same thing about their little angel. You turn around and they are a toddler, the next thing I know she will be entering kindergarten.

Shayla started warming up to everyone in Utah. Much to the happiness of her Grandparents. We haven't ever stayed with Jon's parents for an extended time. They had the opportunity for a few days to have us there and Shayla really warmed up to them. She even walked over to Shannon at one point and held up her arms to be held. (She usually screams if Shannon comes near her) Shannon looked at me and asked who's child this was, it couldn't possibly be Shay! But it was. She loves both sets of Grandparents now.

My niece Abby was baptized on Saturday and Shayla was on one. We had moved into the Chapel and there was a musical number. She decided she should be up there and escaped and was up on the podium peaking at everyone over the banister and shrieking in delight. It was one of those moments when I just decided to pretend like she wasn't my child. At least until she became too disruptive....

It is really nice to be home, and in 60 degree weather again. Shayla has been looking at everything in wonder. She is so happy to be able to go on walks without being in a huge coat and still freezing. I think she also must have thought that I got rid of all of her things. She kept running around and bringing things for me to see.

It is really nice to be back and have Jon with us again. We sure missed him when he came back to California without us. He surprised Shayla with a teddy bear when he arrived at the airport and she showered her Daddy with hugs and kisses. She loves him so much. And he is wrapped around that little girls finger. I have to do all the discipline when he isn't around, he's just a big softy when it comes to her. He is such a good Dad. We are both lucky to have him.