Sorry about the huge travel log, but this will eventually be a book and I want to remember all the little details!
Monday the 10th, first day of a two-part shopping swap in which Moms swapped watching kids in order to do some Christmas shopping! Monday was my babysitting day. We went to the Farnsworths and had about 15 kids all 3 and under for three hours. It was pretty fun and the kids had a good time without any major issues.
Wednesday the 12th was day two of the shopping swap and my day to shop! I hit a few stores, Home Depot, Michaels & Ross. I got quite a bit done, but you’re always wishing you could have finished more! Matthew was pretty good for me, but he’s showing signs that he is very much like his brothers & father. He cried pretty much the whole time while we were in Michaels (must be something about craft stores for boys!)
On Thursday, the 13th, Jacob’s preschool had their Christmas party and I was fortunate enough to be able to help out at it. Caleb went to play with a friend, Zea Clayton during the party; and I took Matthew with me. I loved being at the preschool and seeing all the kids. They have so much fun, and they were excited for the party. I especially loved seeing how excited Jacob was to see me there. He got a big smile on his face and quickly told all his friends, “Look, my Mom is here!” I don’t imagine he’ll always be that excited when Mom comes to help out in his classroom, so I’ll enjoy it while I can! 
Anyway, I got there as they were cleaning up their toys and was able to set up my station. We made cute little Christmas wreaths with paper plates, paper, sparkles & bells. The kids all did great and I had fun being there with them. Matthew was perfect & slept almost the entire time. At the end, the preschool were kids were able to perform a special song, “Christmas Bells” for the parents that they had been working on. They did so great. I love to watch Jacob sing & do the actions, he did a great job! I still can’t believe that Jacob is old enough to be in preschool, but I’m sure having fun watching him.
On the 14th, there wasn’t too much going on. Clara & Max came over for a while, while Kari took some friends to the airport. Then we had the Newell kids over for the evening while Kent & Robyn enjoyed a much-needed and enjoyed night out together. We’ll swap with them sometime in the next week or so, and Jeff and I are looking forward to a night out as well! We had fun with all 6 boys together, they definitely come up with some creative things to do!
On Saturday the 15th I had an awesome opportunity! I actually went out and did a little Christmas shopping all by myself! Jeff was on-call that day, but luckily didn’t get called in to the hospital. I was able to go out for about 2 ½ hours and pretty much finished up all of the shopping. What a great feeling. It’s nice to get out by yourself sometimes too. Thanks to Jeff for watching the boys.
Sunday the 16th, Jeff was on-call once again. He had to go into the hospital to see some patients, but all in all not too bad of a weekend. I substituted as the primary chorister today and had a great time. It’s been a while since I’ve been in primary and it was fun to be with the kids again, especially since Jacob and the other senior nursery kids came in for singing time!
Tuesday the 18th, I had great plans of getting all the Christmas gifts packaged and shipped. Luckily my friend Kari called me and had the same idea. So we finished up what we needed to work on and did a kid-swap while we ran to the post office. What a way to go. I think the post office is my least favorite place to go when I have the kids with me. Usually I’ll just print out my shipping label so I can drop off the package without having to wait in line, but I had two really big packages so that wasn’t an option. Jacob and Caleb loved it, they love any excuse to play with Clara & Max. It sure made it much easier, and I was so happy to have the packages off. (Note: the first package got to my mom on the 20th, two days after being shipped! The second package didn’t get there until about 3:30 on the 24th, Christmas Eve. I was stressing a little over that one. It’s so funny how two different packages being sent from the same location, at the same time, and almost the same size, to almost the same location can take different amounts of time! I’m just glad they both made it before Christmas)
Wednesday the 19th, there wasn’t too much going on. It was a major cleaning day for me. Having gotten all my packages sent off, I was so glad to have nothing else to do but clean & do laundry! That’s what my day was spent doing and it felt so good! I’m sure my family appreciated it as well. That night a couple friends came over to wrap some presents together. It was a fun evening together visiting and enjoying some laughs. That night Jeff and I also got to watch the new Harry Potter movie compliments of Netflix! The movie was a little disappointing, but we still had fun spending time together!
Thursday the 20th was another catch-up laundry day. That evening I went visiting teaching. My companion Arnita Lee and I were able to visit with a couple sisters in the ward. I left at 6:00 and didn’t get home until 9:30, but it was good knowing we were able to have such a great visit.
On Friday the 21st, Jeff was in charge of the year-end high priest group party. It was a pretty fun evening and involved having the high priests and their families, along with Elder & Sister Hayman having a get-together at the Royal Buffet. We pretty much had a dinner party in which all the cooking and cleaning up was done by others. Love that. It was fun to get together and visit with everyone. Jacob and Caleb were in heaven knowing they could choose whatever they wanted. Jacob’s favorite were the crabs, the whole ones, and he ate a whole one all by himself. I didn’t love watching that. Caleb was a bit of a crazy man as usual and kept us busy chasing him from running out of the party room and around the restaurant. His favorite was the desert bar of course. Matthew was a great baby once again and was pretty happy most of the time. Sister Hayman held him for a while and he slept in her arms while I helped Jacob and Caleb. It was a fun evening with many of our friends.
On Saturday the 22nd we finished up things around the house. I ran a couple quick errands. Then I had a reminder that Jeff is absolutely the best husband ever. He took the boys with him to run a couple errands so that I could take a nap. Matthew is such a sweet angel baby, but his sleep habits at night aren’t the greatest. It doesn’t help that I’ve been staying up late too, but anyway, I’ve been low on sleep. The nap felt great and I was happy that the boys were so good for Jeff.
On the 23rd, I taught the Relief Society lesson. It went well and I sure enjoy the comments and participation from the women in the ward. That night after dinner, we got together with some friends who were also staying here for the holidays; the Griffets, Claytons, Marshs, Newells, and Ritters. We decided to have a little Christmas program together. Nothing is better than good friends when you don’t have your family close by. It was great and the kids had a lot of fun dressing up and acting out the nativity story. Jacob and Caleb were the wise men. I have to give praise to Jeff for the construction of their great crowns! He helped the boys cut them out and decorate them all by himself. Jacob made the comment before we left, “I’m a good-lookin’ wise man!” and he was right!
It was a little crazy with all fourteen kids running around playing together (actually 13, Matthew was an angel baby and slept through the whole evening), but it was fun to do the program and be able to sit and visit with our friends, enjoying great refreshments, wonderful company, and the true Spirit of Christmas!
Monday the 24th, Christmas Eve. I wish I could have said that Christmas Eve was more of an enjoyable day, but to be honest it wasn’t the greatest day. For some reason the boys were a little grouchy and I wasn’t feeling overly cheerful. It was just one of those days where nothing works out! I think Christmas Eve was the day we missed being with our families the most. I’m happy to say though, that it ended up being a much better evening. We had a yummy ham dinner together and talked about Jesus & Christmas. Then we opened presents from cousins and watched a Christmas movie together. Jeff and I had a fun evening getting everything ready, and I was truly feeling grateful for such a wonderful family and the blessing of being together forever!
I can't believe it, Jacob is a sunbeam today. He was so excited to be going to Primary with all the big kids. Is my baby really in primary now? It makes me sad! Well... after sitting through Sacrament meeting by myself with the three boys, (Jeff was on the stand today & had to spend most of the rest of church seeing patients at the hospital) I guess there are certain things I'm looking forward to about them growing up, but still I can't believe it. Jacob loved going to primary and was such a good boy today.
