Christmas!

Woo ee! I say that because today is SATURDAY and I am OFF! It is the 1st Saturday I have been off this entire MONTH. If you have worked retail at Christmas time you know that December is not a fun month to work 4 SATURDAYS IN A ROW. I was off 3 Sundays in a row which was nice but still. This is my first full weekend off in a month and I am going to enjoy it (by relaxing). Ok now to my post ha. We had a very fun Christmas this year. Connor was so much fun. He got to the point where when he was handed a present at my moms to open before he opened it he would say toys! He got soooo SPOILED. Seriously if "Santa" wouldn't have brought him anything he still would have gotten more than enough. He is the only grandchild on mine and Billy's side and the only Great grandchild and Great Great Grandchild on my dad's side. He got 4 presents from his Great Great Grandma Shurtluff, and a couple from his Great Aunt Verda! We are going to use a storage tote and get rid of a bunch of "baby" toys or we won't be able to fit everything in his room. His birthday is next month and he seriously doesn't need anymore toys. I think I am going to get him a potty seat and a bed and that's it lol. Ok maybe one toy.....it will be his birthday :)

Santa brought him this Fisher Price pony. You can bounce and play on it and it came with a wireless connection for the t.v. and then it has all kinds of fun stuff to do. It has 3 different levels with different games, songs, music, etc. I don't think he has figured out that you have to bounce on the pony to do it though. He gets off the pony and still wants the t.v. to do the stuff it does when you bounce on the pony. He has so smart though so I am sure he will figure it out soon! In the bag by the pony is some wood blocks with letters on them, a Little Einsteins laptop from Grandma Judy, and a Vtech book from Grandma Denise.

I can't and don't want to name everything in this picture. See what I mean when I said he got SPOILED! The stuff in the back of the picture is old stuff though.

He got a jack in the box from Aunt Verda. It is so cute it's like an old classic one.

I drew Kailey's name and got her the new Taylor Swift cd. She LOVES Taylor Swift.

Connor got a very cute wooden train from Great Grandma Shurtluff. It's a wooden block one.

Chillin on the couch with Jaqlyn.

Grandpa Eeyre showing his fashion statement :)

Billy got Rachel Ray pans, and DVD's from his mom

Connor with my sister in law Sarah. Connor would get given a present to open and run to Sarah to open it.

Connor got a Yo Gabba Gabba guitar from Grandma Dahle. He loves it and it is not annoying at all...

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Love you all!

Connor's 1st time playing in the snow

Last Friday I finally bought Connor some snow gear so he could play in the snow! He had loved the snow and touched it and walked in it with out the gear.I knew he would love it even more with it and he did. It was so funny watching him! He loved sitting down in the snow. He would just all the sudden plump down in it.

He is clapping in this picture.

I thought I would throw on a few pictures I took last week when we were playing.

Jumping on my bed. Notice how my bed is destroyed yes that would be Connor.

Connor put the laundry basket over his head and started saying laundry, laundry. I realized he was pretending to be laundry. So cute.

I can't believe Christmas is in 2 days! I am so ready for it to be here and gone truthfully though. Mainly because of working retail lol. I am so ready for it to be back to normal and not insanely busy and crazy at Target. I am so excited for it though and Connor has been so much fun with everything this year. He loves seeing anything "santa", "snowman", or "lights". He also loves "toys" lol. Last night some friends came over and we had a little get together. They brought Connor some presents. He opened the 1st one and got a toy and so as soon as he saw the 2nd one (still wrapped) he said "toys!". This is also what he said when I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him. I have been trying to teach him that it is Jesus's birthday on Christmas and that's why we celebrate it but he is still too young I think. He does like to look at the "baby jesus" at my mom's though. He loves to help me plug in the Santa outside and the lights. He will point to the tree in the middle of the day and say lights, lights because he wants it plugged in. Well I am so grateful for all of you as my friends. I know Thanksgiving is the grateful holiday but I think Christmas is too. I am so lucky to have so many good friends and I love you all! I am also grateful to have such a great family. Growing up would not have been fun the 1st 10 years of my life with out all my cousins. I was an only child until then and some of my cousins were like siblings to me. I didn't feel lonely at all with all my cousins around all the time. I am so grateful for my Grandma Davis too. When my mom was a single mom with me she had to work full time to support me.Grandma D was like a second mom to me, and helped raise me. If that weren't so I would be a different person. She helped shape and mold me in to the strong woman I am today. I only hope that I can be as strong as she is some day. She will always be my role model and I will continuely strive to be as amazing as she is. My mom is also a great role model to me as well and is very strong. She has went through a lot and is just great. I take after her with always trying to stay positive even when times are tough. I am grateful that she married my dad. He may not be my biological father but he has raised me since I was 8 and I am sealed to him and all of my family. Him coming in to my life brought someone that could provide for us, my 3 little sisters, and someone to discipline me and help me make the right choices. He still helps me in many ways I am grateful for and I don't know what I would do with out him. I am grateful for my real dad Craig as well too though. He was not able to do the things my unbilological dad was but I still love him. He really has turned his life around, and it can't repair all the damage but I hold no grudge against him. By him making wrong choices in the past I was able to make right ones in my teenage years. I had seen what drugs had done to him and how they had taken over his life and I had no desire to do that. He is clean now though and has been for over 2 years. I really think he is for good this time and am so proud of him. I am grateful to his side of the family for always being good to me. Even though I am not around that much with them when I am they treat me just like I am one of them! Ok I am rambling on and am sorry. I really didn't mean to say all of this. Once you get going you can't stop I guess :). Just quickly I am also grateful for my in laws, my mother in law tends Connor all the time and I am very grateful to her for that. All of Billy's family is very good with Connor and I appreciate them. I am grateful for my dad's parents; Grandma and Grandpa Doty,and my great grandma's, They are very good to me. I am so grateful for my little sisters! I would not be complete with out them! Like I said I was an only child for 10 years and all I wanted was a sister. Having 3 of them is such a blessing. Even though they are so much younger than me I wouldn't change it if I could. I think it is exactly how it is supposed to be. I would start naming friends but really need to stop. All my friends that read my blog I love you all! Thank you for your kind comments they mean a lot. Your friendship means a lot to me and I feel so lucky to be your friend. Sorry I made this in to a grateful post I wasn't planning on it. I know it is Thanksgivingish but I didn't do one at Thanksgiving time so this makes up for it :)

UPDATE BY BILLY

I know what you're thinking!  Billy posting?  Really?  I have a blog, but i never do anything with it and i doubt people really go to it so maybe, with Amber's permission, I will start to try and post in her.  School is finally out, 1 semester down, 10 to go!!!  I loved it, it never felt like school, which was nice.  I get a baking class next term so I am really excited for that.  I hope everyone is enjoying my LOST countdown clock I snuck on Amber's blog.  I cant wait till its back on the air and then I will be out of contact on Wednesday nights.  Well, its late and I get to get up with Connor tomorrow morning so I better try to get to sleep.  Have a Merry Christmas everbody.

-Billy

Quick Update

My cousin Sherry left me a comment on my previous post asking about Billy results. It made me realize I have left you guys hanging and I really am sorry. I had nothing else to post about so I was waiting till I did. I guess it is important enough to post about. It's funny cuz if it was bad news I probably would have posted right away, but it was GOOD NEWS!! Of course I am way excited that it is good news. I am sorry I didn't feel the sudden urge to share it with you all. Isn't that sad that I would have rushed to tell bad news but have been delaying good news? Ok I will get to the point. He got his results back Monday and everything looks great! No hidden tumors, no new ones, and most importantly his tumor that he has hasn't grown it actually has SHRUNK! Yep that's right it is smaller! Amazing! See Sherry you weren't praying for nothing you made Billy's tumor shrink :).

Amazing Christmas Concert

Friday night we went to The Christmas Concert up at The Conference Center. We had been once before a couple years ago and had loved it and we loved it again! Billy had been so excited because "Grandpa Gilmore" was there. For those of you that don't know who I am talking about it is the man that plays the Grandpa on Gilmore Girls. Anyways we hadn't gotten tickets my mom did and was so nice and gave them to us! She couldn't go because she had gotten tickets to The Polar Express that night. She had 4 tickets so we took our good friends Adam and Julie (again yay). The 1st part of the concert was Brian Stokes Mitchell. I had never heard of him but he was AMAZING. He had the best range and could sing anything. He has done a lot of Broadway, was in a few episodes of fresh prince of bel air, and frasier, and my favorite; he was the singing voice for Jethro in Prince of Egypt. He sang a prince of egypt song at the concert and it was awesome! My favorite song he sang was this lullaby he had written for his son. It seriously touched me. Edward Herrmann (Grandpa Gilmore) did a speech with music playing while he said it. He did one about Vietnam War that was really touching.

Random picture on the car ride there. The trees looked so pretty but they didn't turn out so good in the picture.

When we went to Temple Square last week I didn't notice these. They have different little nativity sets of different cultures. They are so cute. I only got a picture of the Indian one.
Billy found out that Edward Herrmann (Grandpa Gilmore) was doing signings after the concert so he bolted it there to get at the front of the line and then we met him there. We got to meet Brian Stokes Mitchell too and he was such a genuinely nice guy.

I didn't get a picture of Brian Stokes Mitchell so this is him.

Yesterday I went in to Connor's room and he was sitting in the rocking chair with blankets looking at books. That is what we always do before nap and bedtime. It was so cute and precious I had to take some pics.

Ok so our church switched to 1 the 1st week of December instead of January (don't ask me why.) Today we went and I don't know how I am going to make it through all of it with Connor. It is right at his nap time. We could make it till 2 before when it was at 11 but till 4?! He was so onrey and tired after sacrament. I tried taking him to nursery after and he just cried, even with me in there. Which is not like him at all he was just so overly tired. He always goes down between 12 and 2 and he wont go earlier than noon so I can't give him a nap before church. Any advice? Also I remember not to long ago blogging about how good he was in sacrament and how he lasted the whole time. Not even close this time! He was out with Billy before they even passed the sacrament. They came back in later and he lasted about 15 minutes till I took him out. Hopefully he will get better when he is 2.
Thank you everyone for your comments on my last post! It is so nice to have such good friends! We will find out the cat scan results probably Monday or Tuesday. I will make sure to post as soon as I can after we find out.

Some thoughts and pics

Sunday night we went to The First Presidency Devotional at Temple Square. I didn't even know that Billy had tried to get tickets. We got lucky and got them, and I am so glad. It was really nice to go and the talks were amazing. We got 4 tickets so we took our friends Adam and Julie.

Billy and I

Adam and Julie

Isn't this a good picture of us?! It seriously is one of my all time favorites of the 2 of us.

Group Picture

Ok now to the thoughts part of the title of this post. Billy is having a cat scan done tomorrow (Thursday). They told him he would have to have them done every 6 months and it's been 7 so they called and said it's time to schedule it. I knew it was coming and it really isn't that big of a deal but he does still have a tumor in there. It is 50 times smaller than the huge one he had in his abdomen. It is in his spine. The 3 tumors he had removed in April were miraculously benign but what if this one isn't? And what if they find more? I know I am sounding negative and I actually am pretty confident it is benign but there is a teeny part of me that worries it is not. I am much more confident that it is since the 3 other ones that were removed were though. Anyways so sometimes I feel like I try to forget that he still has a tumor. Thinking back of his surgery I just don't know if I or I guess we can go through another one. I try to forget that yes he does need to have this tumor removed. I am just so glad that he doesn't notice it and it isn't hurting him and causing him any pain. His giant one he had in his abdomen made it so he had to take a medical leave of absence from work a month before his surgery. At 1st they took him off the floor and switched him to cashiering, because he thought it was just all the walking around. Standing in one spot hurt just as bad so he tried using a stool and the whole like not elevating his leg wasn't working either. Anyways so I am grateful that he isn't in pain. I am also grateful that when he does have to have surgery and get this tumor removed it should not be as big of an ordeal. Another major worry is money. Wow I knew surgery was expensive but until you actually pay the bills you can't know how expensive. Also I knew there would be bills but I didn't realize how many different ones. We finally just have one left to pay off and the rest done and now it's time for a cat scan. I am amazed that we were able to pay all the bills but don't know if we could again and don't want to think about starting all over. I really shouldn't be worried, scared, or complaining because I have so much to be grateful for with how everything worked out with his last surgery. It was the hardest thing we have ever went through but I feel blessed to have Billy alive. I feel blessed that he is walking and that he doesn't have to use a cane. He lost some nerve, muscle, and vein. That is a lot of important stuff. If you met Billy you wouldn't even know he went through any of this. Anyways sorry if this is sounding like my posts from April because I think I have already said all this it just is fresh on my mind with his cat scan being tomorrow. For those of you that didn't read my blog in April and are wondering what the heck I am talking about just scroll down and click on April. One more thing I feel I need to talk about is how a fellow blogger friend wrote just what I needed to hear with all of these feelings. She said she felt prompted to share what she shared and I really think it was for me.
Her name is Betsy and she was such an inspiration I had to copy and paste this that she said (Hope you don't mind Bets)

God gives us opportunities (trials) to become better people, and more like Him. A weakness that you have is going to keep being pushed and be a thorn in your life until it becomes a strength. If every time a trial comes up to push that weakness and we just "grin and bear it" we will either become bitter from the pain we had to "endure", slowly progress, or stay the same (ie, not progress). It's like a strong wind pushing against you. If you "grin and bear it" you will either stay where you are or move backwards. However, if you decide to face that strong wind (trial) head on, you will make good ground and become stronger and make progress. So that's the way I see trials. The point of this life is to turn weaknesses into strengths, so when faced with a trial if we come at it from the perspective that we need to grow from that experience, not only will we be enduring it well, but we will be learning so much and that trial won't seem as hard. I also think that we are going to keep having trials related to our weaknesses until they become strengths, so if we hurry up and turn those weaknesses into strengths we won't have as many trials in that area of our life (or rather they won't seem like trials anymore). Afterall, there's no need to test a master is there?

Isn't she like an inspirational writer? I do feel like Billy and I took the "strong wind' head on and that we became stronger from it. I should not question God though if he thinks that we need to go through another trial I am willing to take whatever he throws my way head on and try to turn in into an opportunity. Going through everything with Billy's surgery showed me how strong both Billy and I are and that we are both stronger than I thought we were. Ok sorry that I am talking about something 6 months ago that I already blogged about many times I just felt like I needed to say these things.

Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Temple Square

Last night we went to Temple Square to see the lights. Connor LOVED it. He loves lights so I knew he would. He was calm and content in his stroller. We took him out to get a family picture and then of course he didn't want to get back in. We decided to let him run around for a minute and I don't think I have ever seen him so excited. It was hilarious. He just ran and ran and ran saying dah dah dah dah dah (don't ask me why). Everyone one was smiling and laughing at him. It is moments like these where I see his pure utter joy just in just running around and I wish he could stay like this forever.

Mommy and Connor

Family picture

Connor discovered the water and then it was hard to get him away from it. He would run down a little bit and then run back to it. He tried to climb into it of course. I would try to pick him up and carry him and he was so wiggly and squirming out of my arms I would just put him back down to run around. Finally Billy carried him and had much better luck. We had eaten at Applebees up there and then riden tracks from there. We put Connor back in his stroller to get back on the tracks and he was not happy about this. On the way back to the car he manuevered himself out of the buckle in his stroller. I had to carry him back to the car and again was not successful. He was putting his fingers in my mouth, hitting my face, and just being a nuiscance lol. I handed him to Billy and he still was being a little ball of energy but we made it to the car. We had a lot of fun last night and I am so grateful for so many temples so close, and that I am sealed to Billy and Connor for eternity.

I wanted to share a couple things Connor said or did a couple days ago. If I don't write these things down I will forget. We were getting dressed for the morning and Connor saw his Frankenstein costume from Halloween and started saying Einstein, Einstein. He wanted to wear his Frankenstein costume so I put it on him and he was so excited! He has never told me what he wants to wear and I thought it was so cute that he wanted to wear it.
Connor was drawing on his magna doodle the other day and said a cow so I was like is that a cow and then he said a dog. It was so cute. He drew another scribble and I said what's that and he said a pig. He does it all the time now it's so funny!
One more thing that I want to share was that we were playing a game in his room where I would hide one of his toys under a blanket and for example say "Where's Lion?" and then he would find it and say "There!". Later that day he was eating an apple in his high chair and he had his so called "Santa Book" with him. He put the apple in between the pages and closed the book and to himself said Where's apple, I dunno, then opened the book and said THERE! It was the cutest thing ever.

Connor saying ABC's and counting

I know I already posted a video a while back of him saying his abc's and counting but he has improved so much that I had to post a new one! I used to have to say a letter and then he would say the next one so I would say A he would say B then I would say C and he would say D and so on. He is so smart he can identify them all (upper case) when he sees them too! Notice how he saws shhh for W he can't say it so he just says shhh don't ask me why. I think it is so cute.