You'll Never Know

We did it! We were able to put together sixteen gingerbread houses today! Tomorrow the fun begins with decorating. I spent almost every waking second getting these houses together. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to pull it off that I woke up at three in the morning. Not on purpose. I laid in bed until four and then decided I might as well get cracking. We finished up around midnight.

Mike and I did take a break this evening to listen to my friend Heather sing. She was AMAZING! I love listening to her. Heather was in town to sing at the Draper Christmas Festival. She sang all the songs she wrote as well as a few favorites she has. She sang a Frank Sinatra song that was so beautiful. The song was called You'll Never Know. Her voice was incredible. Plus, it was so cool to say hi for a few minutes before she heads back to Georgia. Coolest thing about this hobby Heather has . . . besides I get to listen to her sing whenever I want . . . is she comes to Utah! Love it!

Slow Going

I have no idea if the gingerbread factory will be able to meet its deadline. I'm really worried about that. I did get to the doctors today. I have been out of my medicine for several months. I am very grateful to have it again.

Viewing

Maysen and I went to Kaitlyn's mom's viewing today. (Kaitlyn is 15 years old.) I guess things like this make me a little more sensitive. Maybe even a little annoyed of what I have had to deal with in my life. I feel so bad for Kaitlyn. It is hard knowing the worst is yet to come.

Busy

Today was one of those days when I was busy all day, but there is absolutely nothing to write about. Who cares that I did laundry, made gingerbread dough, went to my presidency meeting and diving? I did almost forget to get the boys from middle school and take them to their elementary school. That would have been bad. Luckily it dawned on me just in time. I was able to pull up right as they walked up to the parking lot. I also found out Stockton received an A in his math class. I assumed he did, but I was glad to find out for sure.

Christmas Goodies

We were able to deliver all the plates of goodies we had planned for. I was excited about this because I was sure this project would last until Christmas! Now I am returning to the gingerbread factory. We decided to use the left over candy to make gingerbread houses with some cousins on Mike's side of the family. One thing led to another and . . . . now I need to make 16 gingerbread houses by Friday. It will be busy, but I'm excited about it.

We watched the finale of the Amazing Race. We were happy with it. It was cool seeing Atlanta and recognizing so many of the landmarks. That being said, if someone stopped me on the street and asked me, "What former residence was known as The Dump?" I would have no idea. Also, The Swan as the most recognizable landmark? I don't think so. The map challenge at Turner Field was super cool though. Cindy was amazing with that. Love that show!

Brownie Cake

I spent all day today in the kitchen. It was fun, but by about four I was exhausted. Mike said I was having a sugar crash from all the dough I was snitching. I've started making these brownies that Stockton loves. It is hard to get enough for the neighbors because he snitches it so fast. Actually he always asks, I just have a hard time not letting him snitch.

I talked to most of my brothers today. Brett is the only one I didn't talk to. He isn't going to the cabin which is what we talked about. It is going to be so fun! John & Matt are heading up on Christmas. They will stay one night at my grandma's house. Matt was funny, he kept saying, "Grandma has to meet Sam. She has to. She at least has to meet the person I'm going to marry." I talked to Grandpa last night. He seemed excited to have them stay the night. They will get to meet Sam and Mallory. How cool is that? We are hoping to come up on Christmas as well, but we are waiting to find out Bubs & Ange's plans. Bubs is waiting for his basketball schedule to be posted, Ange is not sure how she will feel. (Ange's feet are not ship shape yet, her pain medicine also makes her sick . . . not fun to be at the cabin feeling that way.) Anyway, I am so excited to go to the cabin this year! I just wish Brett and his family were able to come. At least we will get to see them in July! Thanks Matt!

Heartbreaking

Here is Stockton's after shot of his haircut. Love that boy!

Stockton ~ after

This has been a long, hard day. Many memories and feelings were brought to the surface. The mom of a girl in Maysen's Miamaid class died this morning. It was quite a shock. She was sick, but this was a surprise. We were over at her house last night for the Relief Society program. My heart is breaking for Katie. She is a little older than Matt was when my mom died. That is way too young to deal with something like this. I don't like it at all.

Hair Cuts

I took all four kids to get hair cuts today. I made them take before/after pictures. (They were thrilled.) I didn't get Stockton's after picture, so I will post that tomorrow.

Maysen ~ before

Preston ~ before

Love that mischievous boy!

Jorja ~ before

Maysen ~ after

Preston ~ after

We may or may have not gotten a frosty on the way home. You decide.

Jorja ~ after

Jorja just wanted a trim. She loves her hair long!

Jorja wrote all over her balloon. I thought it was pretty funny so I took some pictures. I think it says something like 'frog says hello'. I can't remember.

I had every intention of posting the kids before picture right next to their after picture, but I forgot. When I realized I posted the before pictures all together I didn't have the energy to fix it. Apparently I am extremely forgetful. I set up visiting teaching appointments yesterday. I set them up for Friday, but Sister Brockbank called this afternoon wondering where we were. I told her we were coming on Friday. At the Relief Society dinner tonight, Sister Longhurst asked me if I got lost. I was confused until she mentioned I missed the appointment. I told her I thought I set it up for Friday. She said not to worry about it because she was already visited. I asked her who visited her and she said Sister Peck. Sister Peck is my companion. I guess if three people thought I set up the appointments for today I must have done that. I did spend the entire day baking treats to take to my now nonexistent appointments tomorrow. How embarrassing.

Mike got a crown on his tooth today. It took about two hours to put it on. He has been hurting a lot. We didn't expect that. Hopefully this is his last day in pain. It has been quite a miserable few months for him . . tooth wise.

Root Canal! Yay!

Mike had his second root canal today. I have never looked so forward to a dentist appointment . . . especially for someone else. He has been in incredible pain for weeks. I can't remember the last time he was able to sleep through the night. Mike's mouth is sore today, but it is a different kind of pain and hopefully will go away. He needs to go back tomorrow for a crown. He still hasn't had a crown put on his last root canal, but the dentist said he needed to get a crown on this one quick.

Home from Israel

This afternoon I picked my dad up from Israel. He was asked to go as a tour guide, so he was able to go for free. He went there 21 years ago with my mom. I remember we stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Parry while they were gone . . . and I'm pretty sure Mike turned 1 while they were there. Anyway, my dad had the best time. When I asked him if he had fun he said, "Fun doesn't even begin to describe it." Pretty cool. Preston and I met him in the baggage claim area. Preston wanted to surprise him, so we were hiding behind something. When I pointed to my dad, Preston ran out to give him a hug. But he went to the wrong grandpa! Haha! Preston stopped short and was all confused. My dad was wearing a jacket he didn't recognize, so it took him a bit to find him. Preston was excited for him to come home. He has asked me many times, "When is grandpa going to play with me again?" My dad watches Preston every Wednesday for me while I volunteer in Jorja's class. Preston LOVES it! Anyway, when the other people waiting for their luggage found out I was Ron's daughter they would say things like, "Your dad is amazing." "Best tour guide ever." "He was wonderful." Sounds like he will get another free trip to Israel in the future. Also, for those curious . . . my dad broke his camera on this trip. If you are keeping score, the last three tours he has done he has either lost or broken a camera. Nice to keep traditions.

As soon as all the kids were home from school we went to pick up Mike from work. We stopped at the store and picked out a balloon and a poinsettia. We then took them to Grandma Honey's grave. She died six years ago today. Really wish that didn't happen. I wish both grandma's could be here with their grandchildren (and me). I love watching new grandmas excited about their adorable grandbabies. At the same time it is kind of sad because I realize my children never got to be adored like that. I just keep telling myself they were handpicked. My mom sent me the very best . . . that is why they are so amazing.

Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

Maysen and I served dinner at a homeless shelter with the youth in our ward tonight. The girls had prepared the dinner and did a fantastic job. When we walked into this giant warehouse like building we saw the entire thing covered with beds. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't expect that. The girls had a really good time. Many of them commented on the ages of the children. They asked if they went to school. I think it blew their minds that normal people have giant trials at such a young age.

Almost Date

Matt has an almost date! Matt has an almost date! I was thrilled to get an e-mail from my brother Matt letting me know his maybe dates for his wedding. He and Sam are thinking about getting married somewhere between July 2 - July 6. Awesome!

Little Things

We had a special session of Stake Conference today. We were able to listen to one of the 70s speak, but I can't remember his name. It was great though. Although Mike had to take Preston to the bathroom during one of the talks . . . and then Preston accidentally sprayed him. Been there.

Our Stake President talked about how during the atonement, Christ not only suffered for our sins, but for all the pain we would feel during our time on this earth. Pain that we didn't choose, or pain that others cause us. He talked about how his oldest son and daughter-in-law died thirteen years ago leaving behind a three year old and a one year old. (He has been raising them.) It was really interesting to listen to him speak, I agree with him completely but I can't explain exactly what I think about it . . . too complicated.

I liked what the random 70 guy talked about. He was a really good speaker. He talked about how if you put $65 away every month in a bank account from the time you are 25 years old, with 5% interest when you are 65 you should have a million dollars. (Or something like that.) If you wait to start saving until you are 45, in order to have a million dollars by the time you are 65 you will need to save over $300 a month. It is still possible, but it will take about six times the money.

When your kids are little, if you do the little things like family prayer, scripture study, family dinner, family home evening, and personal meetings with the kids, it all goes into an account. You can start teaching your kids later, but it will probably be six times as hard.

Anyway, I'm sure I messed up a ton of the bank thought . . . especially the numbers, but I really like that idea. I like being reminded that the little things really do matter.

Festival of Trees

Today I went with my family to the Festival of Trees. Granted, I seem to like it the best . . . but they were good sports. It was pretty cool to see the houses they had decorated. I have to say that the Gingerbread Village was our favorite. Besides the Sweet Shop.

Maysen's house

Stockton's house

Jorja's house

Here are a few random houses I took pictures of. I don't know why I didn't take more pictures. There was a gingerbread house of the Capitol in Washington D.C., the Madagascar one was pretty cool, but my favorite was Rapunzel. That one was awesome! I loved the purple licorice for the top of the tree. Wish I had a picture of all those, but I don't so these will have to do.

Arthur's Christmas

Stockton went to a movie with friends today. I find that weird. I can't believe he is old enough to do that. Logan's mom dropped them off. I didn't realize they would be at the theater by themselves. I'm not sure how I feel about this growing up thing.

Super Sad Porgie Porge

I did not want to write this post today, but here we go. As I was driving in our garage after picking Stockton up from dodgeball, Jorja opened the door and was screaming. Mike was right behind her holding her shoulders. One look at her face and I immediately knew one of her frogs had died. I was hoping beyond hope that it wasn't Padz. It was. We are not sure what happened. We think the water bowl might have been tipped, or maybe he wasn't eating his crickets, since there were still a few in his cage. I'm not sure but Jorja is devastated. She kept saying things like, "I'm not a good frog owner." Although mostly it was just a painful cry of, "Padz!" We had Jorja sleep in the guest room so she wouldn't bother the other kids. I laid with her until she fell asleep. I hope she does okay in the morning.

I have been wanting her to speak more Chinese to her teacher. I told Jorja that if she speaks three sentences a day to Ms. Wu, I will get her another tree frog. (Jorja bought this one with her own money and worked so hard for it! Plus the red-eyed tree frog is her favorite frog.) I know it is only two weeks and a day for a really cool present, but Jorja will have to be really brave to talk to Ms. Wu. This is something she struggles with in English. I'm hoping this will help her get over her shyness with Ms. Wu. I'm also kind of wondering if Jorja shouldn't handle her frogs as much as she does. She is very careful and always washes her hands (without soap) before she handles them. Especially Padz. She was very careful with him. Still, it was a lot of handling, but how do you tell a Porge not to play with her frogs. I wish I knew the right answer.

Amazing

The kids have been begging Mike to audition for The Amazing Race. Well, they wanted both of us, but when I convinced them I am terrible at directions, I can't lift anything with my wrists, there is no way I could choke down something disgusting and I don't drink beer . . . they realized I wasn't a good choice. We were joking that Mike needed to get a nonmember to run the race with him, then he could do any beer drinking challenges. I was teasing that we could do an Xtranormal video and sign them up. Mike didn't like that idea. He thought we should ask Nate first. Anyway, it looks like Mike had a ton of fun at work making the video. I told Mike to make sure he wasn't a perfectionist on this thing - he tends to get that way, but the videos were due today. My favorite thing is Mike was wearing his I love robots shirt, but recorded much of the video with the webcam, so his shirt is backwards! Haha! At least he promised not to be a perfectionist, so he sent it in anyway. The kids think he is so cool!

While Mike was busy making videos, I took the Young Womens to the Festival of Trees. A couple of their houses had sold, which was pretty cool. Maysen, Stockton and Jorja's houses had all sold as well. Pretty exciting. I can't wait to go with my family!

Precious Preston

Jorja has a hard time being brave enough to speak Chinese in class. Before she left for school, I challenged her to say a sentence in Chinese to her teacher. If she did, I would give her a quarter. Bribery, I know. Anyway, Preston overheard this conversation and wanted to know why he never got quarters or dollars. So I start wining . . . no one ever gives me dollars . . . I do jobs like the laundry and cleaning the bathrooms and no one gives me dollars. Preston looks up at me and says, "One day they will." I started setting up the Dominion game (which Preston won even though I was positive I was going to win . . . how did he win? By buying estates! We each had 6 provinces, but he had been buying estates randomly . . . and it won him the game.)

Anyway, I could hear Preston fiddling around with change. I thought he was getting into the treasure chest, where Mike and I have coins. I thought, "How sweet. He is going to bring me a quarter." A few minutes later, Preston said he had a surprise for me and wanted me to close my eyes. When he said OPEN! He was holding a $5 bill. He said, "This is for you." He got the money from his bank. He had pried the bill out of his car bank and was giving me his birthday money. I couldn't believe it. I told him that was the nicest thing, but I still wanted him to have his birthday money. He looked down and said, "But I was giving it to you." Wow. I love that boy. (Don't worry, I didn't take his money.)

Now to my embarrassing story of the day. I bought a turkey breast at the store the other day. I wanted to cook it for dinner tonight. Mike has always done the turkeys, but I thought I would give it a shot. I got everything ready and put it in the oven for three hours. Awhile later I decided to make rolls. I melted the butter/sugar concoction on the stove to put in the flour mixture. When I had the rolls ready to rise, I went to get Mike at work. Maysen was babysitting and I let her know I had the stove on. I have never left home before with the stove on, but I was pretty sure everything would be fine. When Mike walked in, he noticed the burner was on the stove. Apparently instead of turning off the burner when I melted the butter, I turned off the stove. Good one Steph. I am sick to my stomach about it though. Not just because I messed up dinner (again), but of what could have happened. I am so lucky no one got burned while I was gone. Especially Jorja. I know she microwaved something. She always climbs up on the stove when she does that. SO THANKFUL she didn't put her little hand on the burner! Man, some days I wonder why I even try.

Delivered

I had such a hard time sleeping last night. I kept imagining all the things that could go wrong. Luckily, nothing did. Mike, Maysen and I took 14 gingerbread houses to the Festival of Trees in the morning. Stockton didn't want to go, so he took the bus . . . and didn't throw up! I had a lot of fun with this project, but I am glad it is finished. Maysen did this gingerbread house for her value project for Good Works. Actually, I did the gingerbread houses for my Good Works value project as well. Believe me, we spent way more than ten hours on this project! It was a fun one though!

Maysen

Preston . . . his was not donated . . . we get to eat it!

Family gingerbread picture minus Mike. He is still in incredible pain from his tooth. At least I talked him into taking one of us before we gave them away. Hopefully I'll be more on the ball for our picture next year.

Stockton, Maysen, Jorja, Steph, Preston

Man

We had tithing settlement today. Preston was embarrassing.

Dead Teeth

By the end of the day, Mike was in intense pain because of his tooth. He had a root canal done on one side of his mouth a few weeks ago. The dentist told him he needed two, but Mike was hoping to space everything out. Once the side that was really hurting was fixed, the side that was only hurting a little bit started hurting a ton. We filled a prescription for lortab, but today that was barely taking the edge off. His appointment isn't until December 7. It is going to be a long week and a half.

Airport Run

Early this morning I woke up to take my dad to the airport. He is headed to Israel! I didn't sleep well, I was nervous that I would oversleep and my dad would miss his plane. I owe him many, many airport runs.

Miah came over and played with Jorja today. Jorja loved that. I was busy and didn't pay them much attention, so I hope all went well.

Maysen and Stockton had a doctor appointment today. Maysen got two shots and Stockton got three. They were thrilled. I told the doctor that I still have Stockton ride in a booster seat, and he was wanting to get out. I actually expected her to tell me it was okay. Nope. She wants him to be three inches taller, then he can. He didn't like hearing that.

Stockton is in the 7% for weight and the 8% for height. Maysen is in the 3% for weight and the 1% for height. Maysen made a comment that Stockton is the shortest but the smartest. True. I am very grateful for the doctor we found. My friend Becky recommended her to me. She is really good. We all felt really comfortable with her. Now, I just need to find a doctor for me . . . especially since my medicine ran out about a month ago . . . .

Turkey Day

The kids have been dying to decorate the tree. So, after making several pies, cider and cranberry sauce, we finally gave in. The tree fits perfect in our new house. It was always a little small in our other ones. It sure looks nice with the lights on. The sad thing was, some of our personalized ornaments smeared. Mike thought it must have happened in the move, but I think it was because we stored the ornaments in the attic.

Jorja, Preston, Maysen, Stockton

Stockton

Preston

Once the tree was decorated, Mike helped me make a side dish of beans that I had never made before. This was very nice because Mike hates beans. The second they were finished, we were out the door to Mike's house. Well, the house he grew up in. We haven't been there since we moved out in February or March. Mike's sisters and brother were there with their families. We had the best time. It was perfect. Aimee, our niece, made the turkey. Delicious.

The kids had a great time with their cousins. Everyone was so happy. I wish I was not so tired, then I would be able to remember and document more. Too bad. Stockton went home with his cousins and Jorja has a promise that Miah will visit tomorrow. I hope it isn't too long until we all are able to get together again.

Cupcake

People wonder why they call it a cupcake. Well, a long time ago, people made the first cake to celebrate Keith Haddit's first birthday. Servants ran around frantically trying to make a new treat in 30 minutes. They just threw things into pans and hoped they got lucky. One servant did. He was tossing stuff into pots so fast now even he knew what he put in. So watch out when you eat cake, you never know that's in there.

So the servants brought out Keith's double decker extra excess chocolate to the death birthday cake. When they set it on the table, baby Keith smashed his cup deep into it. The world was over. His mom grabbed a plate and tried to shake the cake out of the cup.

When it fell out, everyone stared at it. A mini cake! Keith grabbed it and gobbled it up. His face was filled with crumbs. Everybody was still staring. Then Keith took his cup and killed the cake. It was disgusting. The first cake was a disaster, but it sacrificed its success for the success of the first cupcake.

---Stockton

Gingerbread Village

Finished! My big project of gingerbread houses with the Young Women was tonight. It was great. The girls had a blast. I had three new girls this week. What a fun way to start the Young Women program. As I was taking them home one of them shouted, "I love Young Women's already!" Awesome.

The girls were so creative with their houses. Especially Amanda. You can't see her house really good in the picture, but she made a sled out of wafers. I'll have to get a better picture later. I also loved all the different snow forts built out of sugar cubes. Severine had her gingerbread men hiding behind the fort. Looks pretty cool.

Gingerbread Village

Maysen also worked a long time on her gingerbread house. Hers is pretty fancy. I think she really likes it. She has lights inside. It looks really cool when the room is a little dark.

Maysen

Maysen's Mansion

Now the last thing I need to figure out for this Festival of Trees project is how to transport the houses. I'm not sure how to pull that off. My Monday is packed, especially with diving. I was hoping Mike could help me during his lunch break, but apparently Cyber Monday is a big deal where he works . . . he's not allowed to leave the building.

Assembled

Mike helped me assemble 9 gingerbread houses today. Okay, I helped him. Luckily Mike is on call this week, so he was able to help a ton. Maysen worked for a couple hours decorating her house. I took Stockton to diving and loved it. He looks so happy there. At the end of practice he is exhausted! That's about it for today . . . I'm exhausted.

More Gingerbread

I was able to get all the gingerbread houses cut out before church. Yay! I am making nine houses for the Young Women to decorate on Tuesday. Hopefully Mike will help me put them together tomorrow. We had a girl turn 12 today. We will have one turn 12 tomorrow and another one on Friday. Fun, fun, fun!

Gingerbread Factory

We started up Gingerbread Factory again. Maysen helped me make and cut the dough. Amazing how long that takes, but gingerbread houses are cool. Mike made yummy bread. Bubs timed it just right and came over right before the bread was able to come out of the oven. He took a loaf home with him. He said Ange is hurting right now. That stinks. I was hoping this one was going to be relatively easy. Anyway, feel better Ange!

Stockton worked on his science project a lot today. He will just need to do his poster board tomorrow. He wanted to see if he could control what number he would get when he rolled the dice. He rolled the dice 600 times normal and 600 times with a robot machine he made with Mike. He also rolled it 600 times where he tried to 'mind control' the dice. (Come on 6,6,6,6,6,6) He lost that data though.

VIP

Jorja was the VIP this week. I was able to go to her class and talk about her. Jorja left me a gigantic pile of stuff she wanted to bring. I filled a laundry basket and left the other things at home. We brought: Jorja's frog blanket from Grandma Parry, Sticky (her frog from Grandpa Millburn), Padz (her first webkinz), Padz (her new red eye tree frog), Cricket (her barking tree frog), her scrapbook, and her frog box she made with her dad . . . filled with frogs. I left home her ipod and roller skates. We also brought apple cider we made from our trees out back and doughnut holes - those we bought.

Jorja has been excited about this for weeks and weeks. She loved showing off her frogs, but was disappointed that I wouldn't let her pass them around. Although Padz did jump on Jazzie's hair.

In other news, Stockton had six teeth pulled today. They were all baby teeth. Stockton said it was worth it to miss school.

Shopping With Ella

Ella wanted me to take her to the grocery store. It was pretty funny. Ange, Lincoln and I went to the store awhile ago and Ella was disappointed that she didn't come. Ella kept asking when I would take her to the store, so we picked today as the date. While I was at the store, Preston called. I talked to him for a bit, then he wanted to talk to Ella. I don't know what he said, but Ella was so funny. She would say, "I can't because I'm the mom and I have all these babies to take care of." I was cracking up! It was so funny. (I know her babies to take care of are her carebears.) Anyway, I had a wonderful time with Ella. Ange had surgery yesterday, but looks great. She said she is doing so much better this time than the last time. (Her first surgery was her foot, this time it is her other foot.) Hope Ange's recovery is better this time as well!

Rachel

I talked to Rachel today for awhile. It was great. Can't wait to visit them in Japan. I'm just waiting on Matt to pick a wedding date. Come on Matt! Let us know! (Matt never reads my blog, so that will do no good.) But Rachel does, so HI RACHEL!