We had quite the day...

Wow, where do I start? I can already feel a long post coming on but I will try and keep it to a minimum. Yeah right, I just type and type and when I'm done, I can't believe how much I wrote.

My parents and 2 brothers slept over at our house last night. My little brother Matt had STATE WRESTLING here in Roy, Friday night and then again today. They got here about 10 pm last night. We stayed up talking until about 11:30 pm and went to bed. Matt was eliminated on Friday so he didn't have to wrestle today but my Dad and him went to watch how the rest of the team did. My Mom and Jordan stayed here and we decided to go to the pool here, the one where we take everyone who comes to visit. They had never been there. The problems began there.

We got to the pool around noon. I was changing in the dressing room when all of a sudden I got this horrible pain in my right side, low on my stomach. I told Josh to take Chloee out with Jordan and my mom and I tried to stretch it out. It only got worse. I could barely walk out of the changing room to make it to the pool. I was in so much pain, I couldn't hold back tears and my leg started to go numb. I found my mom, who was talking to me about it and we went to find somewhere for me to sit. The pain was so intense and so sharp, I became very sick. As I sat there on the chair with tears streaming down my face, the lifeguards made their way to me to see if I was alright. My mom went to ask one if there was somewhere I could lie down. I lost all color in my face and I was going to puke. The pain was so awful I became dizzy and passed out. Luckily, my mom was there and caught my head so at least I didn't fall over. Evidently, I wasn't coming to and they couldn't get me to wake up, I really don't remember. I wasn't responding so the lifeguards called 911.

When I could finally open my eyes, I couldn't even see anyone, I could hear but couldn't focus on anything. Finally after a while, I was doing better after one of the lifeguards gave me orange juice to drink. In come the paramedics, I wanted to die. I understand the pool has to do this to cover their behinds, but it was SOOOO embarrassing. They had to ask me if I wanted to leave in an ambulance. What? Of course not! The paramedic talked to me for a little bit and then they suggested that we go to the hospital to make sure everything was alright with the baby.

We left the pool, took my mom, Jordan and Chloee home. Thank heaven my mom was here, I don't know what we would have done. We went to the insta-care who then told us they don't have the fetal heart monitors so they sent us to McKay Dee hospital in Ogden. Mind you that I am STILL in my swimming suit! Oh yes, the shear amount of "white trash" looks I got was unbelievable. Ok, I had a tank top over my top and sweat pants on but you could totally tell I was wearing a swimming suit.

Off to labor & delivery we went. They checked me in and had to undress, the whole 9 yards. Of course, my dr in Logan is OUT OF TOWN! What is with that man always being out of town when I'm going into labor or having a big problem at the end?

We sat in the room for probably over an hour before we saw the on-call doctor. The baby's heartbeat looked good and she seemed to be okay, which was my concern. My vitals were all normal. When I finally saw the doctor, he said the pain could have been a number of things. The pain was exactly where my scar from my appendix is. He said there is probably scar tissue in there and it was being pulled by something else, or I was expanding and it was pulling that scar tissue, which is very painful. She could have been laying on a nerve or I pulled a ligament. I have pulled ligaments before in my stomach and it never hurt that bad. The sharp pain reminded me a lot of when I had my appendix out and the pain was just unbearable.

He decided to check me while I was there. I HATE to be "checked", absolutely hate it and I don't want to start going into labor, MY DR ISN'T EVEN IN TOWN. Luckily, he checked me and no dilation and barely thinned out so that is hopeful. He asked me if I was feeling these contractions he was showing me on the screen. What, those were contractions? Evidently what I thought were braxton hicks contractions ARE actual contractions. The braxton hicks ones are what I thought was when the baby was pushing on something and it hardened around it but that's like nothing compared to what I had the first time around. I have been actually contracting a lot and I never even knew it. Granted, it's not like it feels wonderful but I have super active little ones in my stomach so I figured it was just because they are getting bigger and I have no more room.

After 4 hours or so, from the time of the pool, we came home. I'm so glad my mom was here and that she took care of Chloee, I don't know what we would have done without her. It was such a blessing, even if we didn't get to do anything fun because I passed out and had to go to the hospital. We are very blessed that everything is alright with the little one and myself. I am so drained and tired, I feel like I could sleep for a week.

I'll admit, not such a short post, not at all...

SHE'S HERE...

Anna was born January 14th. Ha, and you all thought maybe these were pictures of my baby. I got you all! Ok, maybe not some of you but still... it was fun to do. This adorable baby is my friend, Maren's baby. She is such a doll! Poor thing was in labor for 2 weeks before they induced her. Anna had a rough start and was placed in the NICU. She is home and doing well, ok, that's a relative term. Poor thing has acid reflux and is lactose intolerant so she gets the REALLY expensive formula, just like her brother.

The cute little family. Maren disgusts me. She was seriously back in REGULAR jeans the day she came back from the hospital. She looks incredible, it's not remotely fair, at all. A part of me wants to hate her but I guess I can push off those feelings until I'm done being pregnant. Just kidding, Maren.

I was not able to go see the baby in the hospital, due to the fact that I was been plagued with that stupid cold/flu for 15 days when she had her. I would seriously beat someone to death if they came to the hospital after I had my baby and they were sick. There are some things that are unforgivable in my book and bringing yourself or sick kids around a NEW baby, is definitely one of them. I was finally able to see her after she was a week old.

Congratulations Eborns! I'm glad Nate loves her and always wants to help. Let's pray that my child decides to follow in his footsteps.

A Visit From Iraq

Micheal, my dear sweet brother, Amy's husband, was able to come home for his 2 week R&R from Iraq at the beginning of January. Oh, how much we have missed him. It was so great to be able to spend time with the whole Alleman family.

Micheal brought back something REALLY neat for Josh. That is a whole other post that I am going to put up though, so you'll have to wait to find out.

The kiddos mainly all huddled around this little DVD player and fought over who got to see most of the screen. When they weren't running around like CRAZY monkeys, they were usually all 3 fighting over the same thing. Whether it was the DVD player or Micheal's ipod.

Obviously, Kennet won this one.

Chloee loved watching Sesame Street on Micheal's ipod. I thought these pictures of her with the headphones in her ears were so cute. She looks so old. Thanks Micheal for sharing EVERYTHING with her, including your dark chocolate M&Ms. If only she knew the true sacrifice that was made.

Poor Micheal! It took him an entire week to get here and I know that the last 3 days he didn't sleep AT ALL. I think the time difference is about 10+ hours, I can't remember, but his poor body was all sorts of screwed up. When they slept over I think he was always up by like 3 am. He hardly slept at all. The first night, we all didn't go to bed until about 2 or 2:30 am and he was probably up at 4 am. This was a much needed nap for him.

Truer words were never spoken!

It would just be weird if Josh wasn't teasing Kennet about this WALL-E sweater. I think he kept taking it from him the entire time they were here... and here he is after he told Kennet that he was going to wear it and it would surely fit him. Only my Josh!

I have never seen a kid want to be wrapped up in a blanket so much. Kennet would come up to Amy or Micheal and tell them to wrap him up in it. He looked like a little hot dog in a bun.

Chloee and Kai, obviously in DEEP conversation. Looks like they are in a dark room, getting ready to develop film. I thought it looked cool like this, so I thought I'd put it on here.

We had a blast going to the Philadelphia Sub Shop, which ran out of bread right after us and closed, sweet. We also went to the best place on Earth, Nielsen's Frozen Custard! YUM! We did family pictures, played The Office DVD trivia game, watched LOTS of Bones, ate lots of pizza and laughed our pants off, just like we always used to when us 4 adults get together. A lot of late nights but oh so much fun!

Then there was of course the regular "Sunday Dinner" night at my Mom & Dad's. Dinner was wonderful, thank you Mom. That game "Curses" was the funnest thing ever. I thought I was going to go into labor right there between Dad and his French accent with the swarm of mosquitoes above his head, talking on a CB radio, Josh's Elmer Fudd, Micheal screaming everything and interrupting Jordan every 5 seconds, Mom playing the air guitar while announcing the most obscene things about herself, Amy with the clenched fists, clapping and bunny ears, Jordan's vampire and slapping himself across the face, Matt's golf ball in his mouth and barking like a dog, down to my Irish accent, which was more like a pirate, I was told.
GOOD TIMES!!!

Micheal showed us a bunch of pictures from Iraq that were on his camera. It was really neat to be able to see over there, Josh said the houses and trash everywhere looks a lot like Brazil. The kids are so cute. It's adorable how much they love the soldiers.

Micheal, we love you! We are so glad that we were able to spend time with you while you were here. We are so proud of you and all that you are doing. You are truly amazing and missed every day that you are gone! Love you, always! God bless and come home safe!

Sunday Memories

Our church is at 11 am. Having church at this time, completely throws off everything about having a schedule with a child. Granted, 1 pm would be much worse, but still. It throws lunch, nap, everything off. We get home try and get some lunch in Chloee but she is usually loopy because she is so tired. We finally get her down for a nap late, which is stupid of us, but I have to have a nap to survive the day right now. She ALWAYS sleeps too long. Yesterday, I had to wake her up at 5:45 pm, which is like waking a hungry grizzly bear and all they see when they look at you is a big piece of meat. Yes, she wants to claw my eyes out. I knew if I didn't get her up soon, she would never go to bed. Sadly, this means she goes to bed much, much later. I don't think we even ate dinner until 8 pm and got her in bed at 10 pm. This is a regular Sunday here at our house.

Inevitably, every Sunday after Chloee goes to bed, Josh and I stay up and talk. Sometimes about nothing important, sometimes we just reflect on certain things or we talk about goals, etc. Last night we laughed so hard about some things that I thought I was going to cry. We have great emotional talks and just lay whatever we want out on the table and talk. This usually makes for a very short night of sleep. Last night we didn't got to bed until 2:30 am, so I guess that was technically this morning. It's no wonder MONDAYS are so hard, besides the fact that they just normally stink anyway.

That is something I love. I love that we talk about everything. I love that we can stay up till the wee hours of the morning just talking. Sometimes we are laughing about something that could only be funny at 3 am. I have a lot of great memories of our Sunday talks. I'm grateful that I married my best friend, who knows EVERYTHING about me, and loves me still the same! We were talking the other night about how blessed we've been in our lives and how blessed we are to have each other. I couldn't have asked for a better companion!

I read this thought on Marie's blog, it was a comment her Mom had left on one of her posts and it really struck me and got me thinking.

"Our life is God's gift to us, what we do with our life is our gift to God."

PRETTY POWERFUL!

Are You Serious???

In December the registration on our car needed to be renewed. In the chaos of Christmas and everything else, we forgot to do it. So about 2 weeks ago, we decided we better get a move on it before we get pulled over and ticketed.

This was our first time registering it here in Davis County. I forgot that outside of Cache Valley you have to get an emissions test along with your safety inspection. We take it in and the safety FAILS... What? Here's the reason. The front 2 windows are too tinted and they won't pass it. We have owned this car for 4 years... 4 YEARS and it has passed safety every time. We certainly haven't tinted it at all in the years we've had it. How could it pass for 4 years and now all of a sudden it doesn't pass? We decide to get a 2nd opinion at a different place, which proceeds to tell us the same thing. This is unbelievable. They said by law there has to be at least 48% light coming through and evidently our Honda was only letting in about 23%. After Josh talked to a few people at work, he soon figured out that in Cache Valley they don't really care about that stuff and always let it go but here in Davis County, they are SUPER NAZIS about it. Great, just great!

Now we have to get the tinting taken off the front 2 windows. Just chalk that up for another freaking expense. As if safety/emissions isn't enough, the stupid renewal to register a car I ALREADY OWN and pay MORE TAXES on it just infuriates me. Throw having to get tinting removed from the car, just pissed me off even more. I felt like I had to throw down one of my arms just to pay for everything.

Alright, enough ranting. Josh calls some places to find out how much it would cost to take the tinting off. Some guy was the lowest at $20. When Josh called him back to make an appointment, the man said something along these lines, "I do it by appointment only, meet me at such and such, bring only cash and .....". You get the picture. Hello, could that guy have been any more shady? No! Josh said the guys was a total creep when he was talking to him. Yeah, we canceled that appointment and paid the $30 to go some place legit.

Well, that is it, I really just had to get that off my chest and get it documented. Maybe... and that's a big maybe, I'll think this story is funny someday.

*Just Finished*

Josh gave me this wonderful book as one of my Christmas presents. Every year he always includes an inspirational book that he always hits right on the nose for what I need in that season of my life. He knew I had been struggling with a few things amongst MANY tearful nights. This book came at the perfect time in my life. I just finished it today and it has brought so much comfort to "things" I have felt for YEARS. As always... good job, Josh!

Family Home Evening

This Family Home Evening actually took place last Monday. We did finger paints and play-doh. Chloee has been asking for weeks to do the finger paints and she got some new fun play-doh things for Christmas. Of course I had to strip her down to her nothings, anyone that knows this little girl, knows how accident prone she is and that everything would have inevitably ruined her clothes.

She is so cute in her skibbies. Is that even a word?

This is one of the finger paints we did. Obviously the green is Josh, red is me and yellow is Chloee. I tried to come up with a way to do a tiny one for the baby, but had no such luck.

I made this adorable snowman out of play-doh. Then of course, Josh, being who he is, decided to completely outdo me and made this...

Serious? Who thinks to make their snowman a dog, with a leash and all? He also did a baseball cap backwards on his.

You needed to see a better picture of this dog. I think he's rather cute!

The Mr. and Mrs. together. Notice that I stand taller than Josh, ha!

Josh hurried and made this little one for Chloee. This way we could have a family picture. Aren't we so cute together? I thought so.

It was a really fun night. We then had ice cream after and had to give Chloee a really good bath. Last night for Family Night we went and picked out something to bring the baby home from the hospital in. Chloee is a girl through and through. She loves to shop. She will pick things up off the racks and hold them up to her and say, "Oh, mom, look how cute this is!". She is so much fun. The new thing she constantly says is, "Mom, will you go have that baby in the Hospital so I can go stay with Grandma? I want to go to Grandma's house, can you go to the doctor?" Nice to know you're loved!

My New Specs

After 5 years, I finally got some new glasses. Besides the fact that the old ones were out of "fashion", my eyes have taken a serious nose-dive in the last 5 years. It was time to get some with my latest prescription, so that I could actually see. It's nice having my contacts and glasses be the same. I love them!

Pregnancy Update

I realized the other day that I haven't really put up any pregnancy pics of me. I know that you have all been going through withdrawals of looking at a big, fat pregnant woman, so here I am to give you your fix.

This was taken last week, right before I went to my doctor appointment. I know what you're thinking, "Holy cow, she still has to go 8 weeks, she looks like she's going to pop any moment." You would be absolutely right, I am HUGE!

With only a 5' frame, I am bound to get SUPER MASSIVE. The baby has nowhere to go but out. If this one is anything like Chloee, who was 8 lbs. 4 oz. & 20.5" long, I'm going to probably double in size from this picture. I have very limited space in there. Not all of us can be tall pregnant people who have lots of space in their torso.. hmm... Maren, Kathy.. the list could go on!

That face is so classic AND so Chloee.

Well, I am finally over my nasty cold/flu that hit me for 15 days. I still have a cough at night, I am hoarse and I STILL haven't got any of my hearing back in my left ear. I am successfully deaf in that ear. My OBGYN put me on an antibiotic because he didn't want it to go to pneumonia. Well after trying to get that crap down multiple times and all I did was throw it back up, I was through. Luckily, this stupid virus finally left my body on its own.

I'm measuring a little ahead of schedule. I am really starting to get uncomfortable. Last night I laid in bed for a long time, because that's all I could do. Every time I shift sides, I almost puke and it takes me about 5 minutes to do so. Every part of my stomach aches, on the outside. I feel like my skin is being pulled in every direction, all at the same time. I've been having braxton hicks contractions too. I feel like my back is about to break and I swear this little girl inside me is trying to break her way out from the inside through my ribs.

Somewhere in the 3 week time between doctor appointments, she finally turned so that her head is down. I think I vividly remember that day. I told Josh that something freaky was going on in there, it was so painful and I thought I was going to throw up every time she moved for about 4 hours.

Well, we are at the 2 week appointments now. It's getting really depressing to jump on that scale every time. It is also getting very difficult to pee in that stupid cup! Blah.

We were at a party recently when someone made a comment as soon as they saw me. Mind you, this is NOT someone I had ever met before or knew me in any way. She took one look at me and said, "Woah, looks like someones turkey timer is up, ding!" I should have shot her right there. Besides the fact that I still had 10 weeks to go, who uses such a stupid analogy. I know I'm big, ok, I get it but keep your mouth shut lady... you don't even know me! Just simply ask, how far along I am and do the, "HOLY COW, SHE'S MASSIVE AND STILL HAS AN ETERNITY TO GO" in your head! Thanks.

#1 Chef

I know that I have said this before, but my husband is such an amazing cook. He really is and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband. We both love this dish from Olive Garden called, 5 Cheese Ziti Al Forno, although we always substitute the ziti for penne. Josh decided to duplicate it. Some of the cheeses that go in the recipe were either really hard to find or too expensive so he changed a few things. It was so divine. That doesn't even begin to explain it. YUM!!! Here are a few pics of the masterpiece.

The masterpiece maker....
I think he's the world's best chef. You should see him make up recipes as he goes and he just throws whatever in, it's so random but it always turns out incredible. Josh has always said that he'd rather be a professional chef but wouldn't want to do the crazy hours, late nights and every weekend, along with the fact that we'd pretty much have to live somewhere in the East, like NY! Oh well, I guess being a Mechanical Engineer with suffice for now!
I love you sweetie!

Grandma's Food

Due to some health related problems my Mom has, she really can't eat very many things. When I say very many, I mean that you can probably count them on 2 hands. Anyway, anytime Chloee is at my Mom's house, she wants to eat whatever my Mom is eating. It's actually really cute. Some of the foods are spaghetti squash and cooked apples (without the "dirt"). Well, the other day she said to me, "Mommy, I want my Grandma food. Oh it's so yummy. Can I have some bagetti squash?" So I called my Mom and got the recipes for the "grandma food".

She seriously will eat an entire bowl of this stuff. I tried it myself. I have actually been eating it when she does. It's pretty good... and healthy.

Here she is, shoveling it in her mouth.

Here are the cooked apples. She loves them too but she asks my Mom to not put any "dirt" on her portion. Dirt is chopped up nuts and some other seasoning my Mom puts on hers.

How could you just not LOVE those big, huge brown eyes? This girl loves the camera!

Thanks Mom, for always sharing your limited amount of foods with my daughter... and what an added bonus that they are HEALTHY foods. You can't do much better than that. I know it really means a lot Chloee, that little bond that you and her have.

***On a totally different note, I wanted to jot down something funny Chloee said today. This morning while we were eating yogurt together she said, "I love my Daddy! He's a nice guy!"

New Year 2009

The fabulous year of 2009 came in with a wonderful sickness. I had a little bit of an itchy throat a couple days before but when I woke up on New Year's Day, I had was slammed with an awful sickness that is STILL going on and is now on day 11 and is not over yet!!! I swear that when and IF I ever get over this, I will strangle anyone that has even the slightest cough that comes within 10 feet of me. I am through.

On a different note. I decided that I wanted to make it a tradition to make this yummy breakfast food every New Year... and so the tradition began this year. They are called Orange Pecan Sticky Buns. I made them once for Josh while we were dating and that was the last time I made them, about 6 years ago. I found the recipe buried in my recipe book. It was so good and if anyone else wants to try it, I'm gong to include the recipe:

ORANGE PECAN STICKY BUNS
1 c. sugar
1 c. chopped pecans
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tsp. orange peel (zest)

Mix this together in a large ziplock bag.

2 cans of Grand biscuits (or 4 cans normal) quartered
1/2 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar

Put the biscuits in the sugar and orange peel mixture. Shake until coated. Arrange in a 10 c. bunt pan. Mix the sugar and melted butter together and drizzle over the top. Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes (I always do 55 minutes). Flip up onto platter and serve.

Glaze Topping:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 halves of orange juice squeezed (I peeled the halves of the orange and put them in the blender and put it on liquefy. When it's all done put it in a fine strainer and all of the juice comes out and leaves the skin or excess stuff in the strainer. You actually get a lot more juice this way. I owe that little trick to Josh, evidently that's how the Brazilians do it.)
1/2 tsp. almond extract (Do not supplement with vanilla, makes a big difference)

Drizzle on top

YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM!

Potty Breakthrough

Yes, I did just post a picture of my daughter sitting on a toilet. Sorry if that grosses anybody out. Chloee had been doing really well going in her little potty. When we were at my parents' house visiting for Christmas, Chloee wanted to go potty, but we hadn't brought her potty. For the first time EVER, she went on the big potty and hasn't wanted to go the the "little potty" since. I had to snag a picture of this monumental moment at my mom's house. She can even get up all by herself, with no stool and all. I must say, quite a talent. We've been doing pull-ups for about a week now and she only has an accident every once in a while. YEA!!!

Hopefully we can get this all done before the baby comes and I won't have to be buying double the diapers. Wahooooo!

CHRISTMAS 2008

I could put a million pictures on this post but I decided to keep it pretty simple. Of course I took more than enough pictures of Christmas morning. I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone. You spend all this time preparing for it and it's over so fast. We had a great time together. I can't believe that this was our 7th Christmas together. Crazy!

That face is just so darn cute. It was so fun to see her run down the stairs to see if Santa came. She was so much more aware of Christmas this year, it just brought everything to life.

This was her favorite present. It was this baby set. I wanted to get her one anyway for when the baby gets here, so that she can do all the same things as me, but with her doll. It came with a stroller, swing, high chair, little carrier and a bunch of other things that I can't remember. She loved it. All day she was swinging Jack Jack (her favorite doll, yes, she named him Jack Jack and yes, it's a girl doll). What a cute little mommy she is.

Josh as happy as pie to get anything cooking related. His entire list was pretty much cooking things that he wanted. This was a new cooking thermometer. His other one broke a long time ago and I can't count how many times he would be cooking and comment on how he wished he had a new thermometer.

Much to my dismay, I decided to put this picture on here of me. I was in no state to be photographed but I had to put this one up of this present. Josh is such a sweetie. Let me explain this present first. Amy and Micheal and the boys all have these Camelbak bottles. Micheal puts these words and different things on them to describe them and then you put packing tape around it. It is the coolest thing ever. Well, Amy made Chloee one for her birthday. One side had Darth Vader and the other was all girlie girl. Naturally, the 2 sides of the Chlo. Josh made me one, it was so adorable. It has things on it like, "Great things come in small packages, Chica, Ber, sweetie, etc.", you get the picture. It was my favorite present. I cried when I opened it. So much thought went into it.

One of Chloee's other presents was this tent. We got it from IKEA back in October. Chloee's friend, Nate, had one and she loved it, so we figured it would be a great Christmas present. She sits in it and watches TV or plays with her dolls.

She rolled around in the tent so much that the static did this to her hair.

On Christmas morning we do a big breakfast. Josh made some of the best french toast you'll ever eat. Of course he got the great recipe out of one of his Cook's Illustrated magazines. When any of you come to visit, you need to have him make this for you. We also had ham, there was so much left over from the night before. It was so yummy!

All in all, we had a great Christmas. We just spent the rest of the day lounging around, watching movies, playing games and enjoying not having to travel anywhere on Christmas day.
IT WAS PERFECT!!!

Perfect Timing... To Kill Me

Amy let Josh and I borrow her season 3 of Bones. We love to watch Bones, but we didn't get to see all of the last season on TV. We were watching them faithfully every night while Josh had work off through the break.

Well, there was these series of episodes where they were trying to catch this cannibalistic serial killer. It was really gross. It was one of those episodes and they went to confront this guy that was the initial killer that started the craze. At this point, he's in a resting home. They went to talk to him and said they needed a mold of his teeth and when they got close to him, he whipped around and came at them with his teeth, hissing....
BAM, our power goes out.

I thought I was going to die. It freaked me out so bad. What are the chances that the power went out right then, at the specific moment. It felt like no coincidence. I was freaking out. I hate the dark anyway. I start screaming from the couch, telling Josh to get over by me and I was almost in tears. He basically drags me up the stairs to find a flashlight. I call the power company and I get that it's going to be at least 2 hours. Great, there it was 11:30 pm and I'm freaked out from the show anyway and now no power for who knows how long.

Chloee woke up, we put her in our bed. Josh and I both laid there not being able to sleep, thinking about that freaky episode. Josh turns to me and said, "Why couldn't we have been watching Enchanted?" It was so funny to hear him say that because I was thinking the exact same thing.

Needless to say, neither of us slept very well that night.

I HATE WINTER!!!

Yes, now that Christmas has come and is now gone, there is no need for the winter or snow. We live about 15 minutes from Josh's work. Tonight it took him 1 hr and 45 mins to get home. How ridiculous is that? His leg was in so much pain from all the stop and go traffic in a car that's a manual. It felt like 10 hours just sitting home, hoping that he wasn't in a wreck! Blah... I hate the snow.

Christmas Eve

Josh had been preparing Chloee for quite some time now for the night that Santa would come. They sat down and she told him what to write for her letter to Santa. Santa made it very clear that Egg Nog would be better than milk. Josh also kept telling Chloee that Santa's "pregnant" reindeer needed some sort of vegetable or fruit.

In case you can't read it, it says:

Santa,
I left these cookies for you & the egg nog too. I hope it makes you feel better. Have a good night! - Love Chloee
P.S. The apples are for your pregnant reindeer. Tell her we hope she feels better.

When Santa would ask her what she wanted, she would always say "cookies". Josh says she figured it was an even trade if she left him cookies, it would only be fair for him to leave her cookies. This is what Santa left out for her. When I was growing up, we always got a box of our favorite cereal... looks like Santa decided to keep that tradition going.

We had such a fun Christmas Eve. We always stay home and do something with just out little family. We started a tradition a few years back to celebrate it Brazilian style. They have this huge feast at midnight. We altered it a little bit and do it at just regular dinner time. We had a spiral ham with this fabulous glaze Josh makes, funeral potatoes (my favorite), homemade rolls, salad, etc. It was so good, we ate the leftovers for DAYS! Yum!

For Chloee's scriptures that night we read about the birth of our Savior. She had made a manger set in nursery so we did a little something with that too. After we put Chloee to bed, Josh and I watched a movie together with only the Christmas lights on in the house. It was a perfect night!