It's not every day you get to have dinner with the President of the LDS Church. Last night, we were fortunate enough to have that experience along with over 1200 other members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Organization. I was invited as a member of the Bells on Temple Square. One of the perks about last night is that we went with my Mom and Dad, since my mom sings first alto in the choir. Here are a few pictures from our amazing evening. Check out this salad. It not only looked amazing, but it was delicious!!! I could have eaten three more of these.
It was an evening I won't soon forget! President Monson was there and spoke to us and reminded us that one of the best gifts we can give our Savior is our heart. I am so grateful to be a part of such an amazing organization and I hope that this will be the first of many fun evenings and events with the Bells. Thanks again A TON to Jen for being willing to watch Carson & Kaylee so we could attend. You are the best!
Sunday evening we were lucky enough to have some family over for dinner. Matt, Natalie, and Hallie came down from Ogden and Nick's cousin Carly & her little girl Chloe also joined us. It was fun to get to spend time with them since we wouldn't see them for Christmas. The kids loved helping Hallie open her present, a cute butterfly towel. Chloe is only a few weeks old and the kids were in LOVE with her. She is adorable and I can't get over how much hair she has!
Last night, after the Motab dinner, the kids enjoyed getting to open a gift from G & G Brower and watching them open some of the presents we gave them.
Then, tonight, we got together with our good friends the Yospe's and exchanged some small gifts and ate cookies.
With all this present opening, the kids are getting nice and warmed up for Christmas Morning. We also got to watch Chloe this morning for a little bit and it was a good practice run for me and the kids to see what life will be like with a little baby. It wasn't bad at all. In fact, I realized how much the kids will be good little helpers when we have the baby. Yes, it will be hard, but if they adore their new little sister as much as they did Chloe today, life will be good!
As a mom, my day is filled with different emotions. I can be happy one minute, upset the next, sad, and then feeling very overwhelmed with love the next. Some days are more of a roller coaster ride than others, and yesterday was one of the wild ride days! I woke up feeling pretty good about the day. I knew we had a busy day planned that included our weekly cleaning, but I also needed to run some errands and I was working on finishing up a short sale that had closed the previous day. I was just finishing up cleaning the bathtub in my bathroom when I heard Carson screaming his head off. I panic and ran into the kitchen expecting to see him bleeding or broken. But instead, this is what I found: I immediately tried to calm him down and tell him it was okay and that we can get it cleaned up and it isn't a big deal. I was just happy he was okay. I had just helped him get Kaylee some chocolate milk and he asked if he could have some too, but insisted that he could do it himself. He has done it before, so I told him he could, but to ask me for help if he needed it pouring his milk. Rather than getting out the half empty gallon in the door, he got out the new gallon on the shelf and was trying to transport it on the bar stool when it fell off and split open. After almost a whole roll of paper towels, we got it all cleaned up. I wasn't too upset since I hadn't mopped yet, which was next on my list of chores. And it gave me a good reason to pull the fridge out and clean behind it. I wasn't too upset, just frustrated that it was a brand new gallon of milk and that I had to spend an extra half hour cleaning than what I was planning on. It also didn't help that I had spent most of the morning getting after the kids for fighting or yelling or running or not listening. I went back to finish the bathrooms then went downstairs to rotate the laundry when I heard Kaylee come tumbling down the stairs. Really?!?! This poor girl, she was trying to take a toy firetruck down the stairs and just missed a step. So I took some time to comfort her and make sure she was okay. I was then feeling very overwhelmed with one thing after another going wrong that day (even though it wasn't that bad, it sure felt like it at the time!). After all the cleaning was done and we were all ready for the day, Kaylee made my day a hundred times better by finally pooping in the toilet! We had been telling her if she went in the toilet, we would take her to Coldstone for some ice cream. So after Dad got home from work, we all went and had ice cream! It made us ALL very happy. But then about a half hour after we got home, she pooped in her underwear. Really?!?! We fed the kids dinner and dropped them off at the our neighbors, the Neumanns, so Nick and I could attend the Motab Christmas Dinner Party at the Grand America with my mom and dad. This was the first year since I have been in BoTS that I have been, and it was an amazing evening. It was so fancy and we got to eat yummy food, and best of all, hear President Monson speak to us. What a difference a few hours make, since I went from cleaning up milk and poop to eating in the fanciest hotel in SLC and rubbing elbows with really important people. Looking back over my day just made me realize how emotional a day can be. You love your kids, you want to strangle your kids, you want to hug and kiss your kids, you want to lock them in their room for the rest of the day, you want to give them everything, you want to throw all their toys away, and it repeats itself EVERY DAY! But really, I wouldn't do it any different. I don't mind riding this roller coaster every day. In fact, I would be willing to do it the rest of my life if I am so lucky to be able to. Tonight my kids were so cute....Kaylee was happy to hear we were having spaghetti for dinner and told me it was her favorite and that she would eat it all gone. And she did! That made me happy.
Carson is always saying the cutest things and doing things to make me happy. In fact, he used the back of wrapping paper to draw a picture of me and him. He told me that whenever I am sad or mad, I could just look at that picture and it would make me happy. Which, it does work. He has already pulled it out a few times during the past few days. (Normally it is when I have just put Kaylee in time out for whining or not listening and I get upset with her). He really is the most loving little guy and I love snuggling with him every morning before we start our day!
I just wanted to share how much I love my family. Yes, there are moments I question my sanity and my ability to be a mom and wife, but with out my family, life would be pointless. I hope that all moms realize how fun this ride is we are on and that we choose to get back on that ride every day!
I was so excited to blog about Kaylee's dance recital, I almost forgot about the Ward Party we attended Friday night. We had a good time, like we do every year! They served turkey, potatoes, stuffing, corn, and yummy desserts for dinner. We enjoyed visiting with our friends and ward members while we ate and listened to a music program put on by a lady in our ward, LaNita Brown and her son. LaNita was my visiting teaching partner when we first moved into the ward 6 years ago and we sit by her often in Sacrament Meeting. The kids enjoyed listening to her sing. Then the kids eventually made it on stage to get ready to sing a few songs and act out the Nativity scene.
I could go on forever on how much we LOVE our ward! We have so many good friends in our ward and everyone is so nice and generous. They have really made us feel at home over the years and I am so grateful for everyone in our ward.
Yesterday, Kaylee had her very first Dance Recital! It was the Groove's Winter Showcase. It was held at Grainger High School in West Valley City. We got there a bit early and I took Kaylee back to the choir room, behind the stage, to meet up with her class and get ready for the recital. All the little girls looked so cute with their costumes on, which consisted of a Jingle Skirt, jingle bracelets, and bow. They had their hair curled and they all looked ready to go! Here is a few pictures of them backstage while they waited. Their teacher, Heather, brought books for them to read and they sang songs while they waited for their turn to perform. Kaylee with her good friend Ashlynn.
I went back out to the auditorium and we found a seat as close to the front to watch Kaylee. It was so cute to see them bring out all the little girls and have them get ready to dance. Kaylee was the last one to walk out and she had her arms folded, it was so precious. She is the youngest (and shortest) girl in the class. When the lights first came up, they started the wrong music and the girls were so good to just sit and wait while they found the right music. Kaylee even took that time to wave high to us. It was adorable! They finally got the right music started and Kaylee did her dance, well, most of it. I was so worried that she would get up on stage and be so distracted by the lights, costume, and audience that she would totally just stand there, but she did great and did her best to do her dance!
The end pose was the best....she did her little spirit fingers and basically waved to everyone once she was done. It was so stinkin' cute! After her dance was over, they took them backstage where I met up with her. They passed them out candy canes and she also got a medal.
We also got her some flowers and a cute little piggy to congratulate her! She loved them and was so cute posing with a handful of gifts!
I was such a proud mommy and Kaylee was also super happy and gave me the biggest hug after she was done dancing! Here is Kaylee with her two other biggest fans, Daddy & Carson!
On our way home Kaylee wanted to eat some M&M's, so I gave her the bag, and a few minutes later I looked back and saw she had fallen asleep, not only with her cute little pig, but with her hand in the M&M bag. She must have danced hard, because she zonked right out!
So while she slept, Nick dropped me off at a few stores to pick up a few more Christmas things and then we headed home and made pizza for dinner and did some wrapping. Today at church, the Primary sang in Sacrament Meeting and we had our last Choir practice before the program next week. We enjoyed having some family over for dinner tonight. Matt, Nat, and Hallie came down from Ogden and we also enjoyed having Nick's cousin Carly and her cute little girl Chloe over as well. It was such a fun evening and it really helped me realize how important family is to me during this time of year!
Here is the video of Kaylee's first dance recital. She is on the front row, very end. She is the cute one waving at the first! It is kind of long, and it take a minute to get going since they had to get all the girls lined up on stage and they had a hard time getting the right music started....but it is cute! Enjoy!!!!
Thursday we had a fun filled day! It started with Carson's Pajama Day at school. They all got to wear their PJ's and have hot cocoa, marshmallows, and candy canes. They watched a few scenes from Polar Express, including the scene where they serve refreshments, like hot cocoa to the kids on the train! Here is his cute Kindergarten class and Mrs. Jessee in their pj's!
When I had first gotten to his classroom to help, they were just finishing up wrapping their presents they had made. It was a cute picture of him that is glued on a Christmas tree with his name. It is super cute and is now hanging on our Christmas tree in the front room. I love getting stuff like that from him! I thought it was so cute the way the wrapped it and he even wrote my name on the tag.
Kaylee enjoyed a day at Preschool, I took some pictures of a one year old for a friend, and we made some Chocolate Chip cookies, and probably ate more dough than baked cookies! Then to top off the day Nicholas and I were able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choirs Christmas Concert with musical guest, David Archuleta.
He was amazing and it was a wonderful concert! Our good friends Royd and Jill went with us and we met up with my Grandma & Grandpa Edstrom at the concert. It was a wonderful evening! The kids enjoyed having Faith come and babysit while we were gone. They had made us cute love notes and left them for us by our bedroom door when we got home. I could tell they had a great time while we were gone! So overall for a Thursday, it was pretty eventful!
For that past few years we have made it a tradition to decorate a Ginger Bread House. So last night for FHE that was our activity. If I was really good, I would make it from scratch....but are you kidding me?? The easiest way is to find a kit at Costco or Walmart! This year, the kit from Costco came assembled so we didn't even have to paste the walls and roof together, we could just start decorating! The kids had a blast putting the candy on and I didn't even care how they did it...they are both old enough now to do it themselves and I thought they did a great job!
Lately, Kaylee has the funniest faces for pictures....I have about 4 of these faces from last night on the camera.
Carson even pulled a few funny faces but this one of him just being himself was my favorite! His teacher, Mrs. Jessee told us that Carson is always very happy at school and is always smiling.
Doesn't the house look great?!?! It must have looked good to the kids....because it didn't take them long to start eating the candy and licking the icing. (Do you see Carson's little finger taking a little swipe off the bushes??)
Once it was mostly decorated, Carson wanted to help out with the icing. So we let him go to town with it and he did a really good job! Next year I am going to make him do the whole thing!
Dad even got in the action and decorated the gingerbread men for us!
I had to put this picture in because of the frosting that was all over Carson's face!
It was a fun evening! Even today after school the kids were picking more candy off the Gingerbread House. Again, just one more thing I love about Christmas time!
Check out this salad. It not only looked amazing, but it was delicious!!! I could have eaten three more of these.
It was an evening I won't soon forget! President Monson was there and spoke to us and reminded us that one of the best gifts we can give our Savior is our heart. I am so grateful to be a part of such an amazing organization and I hope that this will be the first of many fun evenings and events with the Bells. Thanks again A TON to Jen for being willing to watch Carson & Kaylee so we could attend. You are the best! 
