new year's eve

isaac went skiing again today.  he's still not feeling 100 percent, but the air is cleaner at the ski resorts and he can always come home and crash.  craig took isaac and his friend, josh welling, to the resort.  craig was going to work on his talk in the lodge while the boys skied, but he forget his computer cord.

craig took me and my other sister wives to dinner for new year's.  we ate at a yummy japanese restaurant and thought about evan. 

afterwards, ryan joined us to watch tv and visit.  i spent a good part of the time teaching cindy how to play words with friends.  i helped her beat me.  it was really just beating myself.  the kids all had parties to attend and friends to hang out with.  i'm pretty sure jake found someone to kiss him at midnight, but he's not talking.  isaac had a few friends over to our house.  around midnight, there was another earthquake in japan, but evan said he didn't feel it. 

i'm hoping some things are going to change in 2012.  i'm hoping to make it a better year!

the ski machine

isaac, the skiing machine, wanted to go again today.  there still isn't any snow, but he and craig enjoyed a few hours on the slopes together.  sam spent the night at his friend's cabin last night and then had a delicious lunch at the snowbasin lodge.  byu played their bowl game: the armed forced bowl against tulsa.  it was a tight game.  byu was down by 7 with under a minute to play and we had the ball inside the 5.  riley nelson, our quarterback, faked a spike and hit hoffman in the end zone for his third touchdown of the day and get us another bowl win.  it's not exactly the glory days of mcmahon and young, but it's still good to win our bowl game.  in a house full of football crazy boys, i was left alone to watch the game with g-dawg.  we had fun sharing useful apps on our iphones and visiting. 

bored to tears

isaac's friends must have all left the country because he was literally bored to tears today.  he's still not feeling 100 percent and we didn't really do much today other than putter around the house and run a few errands.  when the older kids left to do baptisms for the dead with craig around 5:00, we decided to see if there was an movie.  so, at 4:52, we decided to try and make the 5:10 showing of we bought a zoo.  we made it before the previews ended, with soda and popcorn in hand.  it was a fun mother-son activity.  the movie was cute.  i don't need to see it again, but it was a good boredom buster today.  sam is off at a friend's cabin tonight.  jake bought like 40 bags of salt today at costco and then went on a date tonight.  he and his friends made hot chocolate and i guess all our spoons were dirty:

caroline went ice skating and then hung out with some cute friends.  she also has a giant hive on her arm from her allergy shot, but no headache to speak of.  craig's working on his big-time church talk for sunday.  he always gives awesome talks.

things are looking up

things are looking up today for isaac.  he's feeling pretty good.  he even had three friends over for the afternoon and then went to basketball practice (even though he had to use his inhaler three times).  only one breathing treatment today.  just as he was going to bed and i felt victorious, caroline came home from her friend's house sobbing.  she had a horrible headache and says she's been having headaches in the same spot for months.  yikes.  i immediately thought "brain tumor" because i was trained by jake.  craig glared at me when i said the words out loud.  after a bit, she felt better and went to sleep.  we'll deal with that problem next time she has a headache.

in the afternoon, caroline and i ran some errands in layton.  we accidentally went to our favorite shoe store, dsw, only to find out that they are closing the layton store.  boo for that, but yay for 30 percent off the clearance prices.  eight pairs of shoes later and $110 we headed for syracuse where we picked up sam and his friend, jaxson, from jaxson's house. 

we played two games of settlers (i won one--craig won one).  i'm just so glad isaac could breath today!

staying out of the hospital

so at this point, on like day 1,000,000 of isaac having breathing problems, i'm ready to give up.  this month has been particularly bad.  this past week has been the worst of the worst.  we've been to the doctor, to kid's care, had a chest x-ray at the hospital and talked to several doctors on the phone, and he's still wheezing.  as frustrated as i am, isaac is more frustrated.  today he was put on a higher dose of steroids and a z-pack after having a test for whooping cough.  the doctor we saw today called isaac a "fragile asthmatic".  a little discouraging.  i got to the point today where i felt like he would be better off in the hospital for a few days, that we he would get around-the-clock monitoring and have oxygen available.  but he's rallying a bit, so we are sleeping at home again, wondering the whole time if we might end up in the emergency room in the night. 

g-dawg's birthday

this morning some of us hit the mall for a few after-christmas sales.  before we knew it, caroline also had a new iphone.  that puts our iphone number at five.  dad and evan are the only hold outs. 

today is g-dawg's birthday.  we have had a tradition since long before my dad died to enjoy an adults-only dinner at the restaurant of mom's choice.  since dad is gone, we have contined that fun tradition.  almost every year we go somewhere different and we often go to a movie afterwards.  this year, the mandarin was the choice.  we had yummy chinese food and lively conversation (as always).  we were missing ryan & stacey and of course, dad and scott. after a very senior citizen-like dinner time of 4:30, we went to a newly released movie, war horse.  for me and almost everyone in our party, the movie was a total bust.  it felt like ww1 in real time.  craig said he liked it though.

christmas day

christmas morning started beautifully with sacrament meeting.  president eyring spoke to a sold-out crowd.  he always gives such great talks in our ward.  he promised us that we would remember this christmas and our feelings about the saviour.  the meeting went a little over, so when president eyring sat down, isaac and i raced home to get our breakfast casserole out of the oven just in the nick of time.  after jake took sacrament to a ward shut-in, we finally got to our presents.  it was 11:00 before we started unwrapping.  everyone seemed happy enough with their stuff and we had a great time spending the day together.

rome & jete enjoying some new toys and a new food dish

 ick with his lord of the rings pez dispensers and ngata jersey

 sam opening his stocking--he got an awesome range finder

 caroline and liv at grandma's--caroline is opening some fancy indian slippers

jake and sam checking out jake's new ski films

we had a delicious dinner at grandma davis's house with some of our cousins and then we came home to talk to our two missionaries on the phone.  it was so good to hear evan's voice again.  he sounded really good.  we talked for almost an hour and caught him up on all the sports opening.  we also heard about his life in japan.  it was really hard to say good-bye, but we will get to skype with him on mother's day, which is right around the corner?  we also talked with thomas and he is doing great too.  another great christmas!

christmas eve

christmas eve is always enjoyable.  our tradition is to have dinner at craig's parents and then enjoy a little family home evening.  we started out the day gaining another iPhone.  sam switched from t-mobile at at&t and inherited my phone, which means i got a 4s.  yay!  then we all went to mi:4 (mission impossible for you uneducated folks).  we all really liked it.  then we headed out to south salt lake.

we had a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin, bernaise sauce and funeral potatoes.  we had some fun times reading christmas stories around the living room.  jake even sang innkeeper, caroline played the violin and isaac read a story.  we ended, as always, with grandpa's bells, then raced santa home.

another ski day

with all the presents wrapped today, most of the boys off skiing, and sam at g-dawg's with monte, caroline and i decided to go to a matinee.  we went to the new theaters in centerville and we were the only two people in the theater for the 11:00 a.m. showing of new year's eve.  we had a great time just the two of us, stopped at paradise bakery on the way home for lunch and then i took a little nap!  those last few days before christmas are very enjoyable when the presents are bought and wrapped.  the boys had fun, but they were wishing for some snow.  we don't have any this year. 

first ski day

today was the first ski day of the season!  there really isn't much snow right now so they are making a lot, but there's enough to have a decent day.  craig took isaac, sam, jake and dallin.  they seemed to have a great time.  sam wasn't sure if he wanted to go today but when i told him he had to do chores of he stayed home, he decided skiing sounded pretty good.  i had a productive present-wrapping day and almost completely finished everything i had to do.  caroline helped me (a tiny bit) and then caught up on some dvr shows before going off to spend the evening with friends. 

optional day

in my opinion, today was an optional day at school.  i don't know who decided to have our wind make-up day today and cut into our christmas vacation, but whoever it was is a killjoy.  isaac skipped school altogether, although partly because he's back on steroids and frequent breathing treatments.  sam skipped the first few hours, as did caroline, but they both eventually made it.  jake went and said half the school was taking a personal day, but he said it was one of the most fun days he's had as an officer, so go figure. 

while it may be tmi for most peeps, i had a colonoscopy.  last time i had one it didn't go well and they found several pre-cancerous polyps.  today went well--no new findings of irregular cells!  i don't have to go back for ten years. 

gunk in the air

craig's day:  "okay", but wishing for a new and interesting case to work on.
becky's day:  running out of shopping days and having a colonoscopy tomorrow is slowing things down.
jake's day:  good day.  stayed late to do extra credit for english (yay says mom) and then despite having many other things to do, drove downtown to donate blood.
caroline's day:  school was okay, but making over 100 cookies for her friends and jake's friends after school made for a great afternoon.
sam's day:  started very early at the temple with craig, jake & caroline.  then he went to school early to sing christmas carols with the spanish students.
ick's day:  school was school.  the air is so bad right now that isaac is constantly coughing.  as we speak, he's off to kid's care with craig.  we'll see what the doc says...

cheese ball day

today was cheese ball day.  before the making of the cheese balls started, however, i had a dermatologist appointment and had to run a few errands.  i was so excited to discover after i had done all these things that my pants were on inside out all morning.  yay me! 

the cheese ball making went great.  i cranked out 50 cheese balls for neighborhood gifts, with a little help from jen and celeste.  it was a fun day, but now i'm exhausted.  most of them have been delivered and i forgot to take a picture until now, but here are a few remnants.  imagine 48 more bags like this:

my multi-cultural santa bags were so cute, jen suggested a paper bag garland.  i'm so glad she did, because it turned out so very cute!

white elephants and sad news

tonight was the annual racous christmas party at g-dawg's.  we did all the regular stuff:  ate big, decorated cookie houses, exchanged white elephants, and then watched our family highlight video.  a great time is always had by all!  there's always lots of laughing and lots of loud talking.  i love it.  i missed evan so much though. 

we also learned today that our dear friend in japan, sister shinoda, passed away.  craig baptized her many years ago and we have kept in close contact.  she and her husband also came to visit last summer and attended evan's high school graduation.  the shinodas live in evan's first area and they have been taking care of him and contacting him.  it's such a sad day, especially for craig. 

early christmas present

i'm a lucky girl.  craig got me this fancy treadmill for christmas and spent the afternoon putting it together for me.  i love it.  my other treadmill broke a few weeks ago, but this one is way better anyway.  haha. 

we had a yummy breakfast this morning at lamb's cafe and then spent a few hours shopping at the gateway for some christmas gifts.  we watched byu take on baylor, the number six team in the country, then craig and i went to a party with some of the people he works with.

i was amazed at all the little things craig got done in the afternoon though.  the treadmill was the most exciting to me, but he was a busy boy.  i'm grateful for all he does for us!

favorite tradition

my favorite christmas tradition is staying downtown at the marriott.  we always eat at benihana's, go to temple square to look at the lights, sometimes see a movie or swim and then wake up and have a great breakfast.  i don't know why it's so fun to be downtown, but i really enjoy being together enjoying some family time.

we also celebrated sam's birthday at dinner and were lucky to be joined by mackynzie, our cousin at byu, before she flew back to san diego for christmas. 

allergy #s

isaac had some blood drawn a few weeks ago to see how his allergy numbers are going.  i suspected that they would continue to go in the wrong direction, particularly soy, because the soy food have been giving him so much trouble over the past few years.  we had some positive news though.  his fish and shellfish numbers were down and dr. broadbent agreed to do skin testing with crab, salmon and shrimp next month.  if skin testing goes well, she will allow isaac to eat these things in her office and see how he does.  if he doesn't react, we may be able to reintroduce them into his diet.  he still can't eat any nuts, but we weren't counting on that.  and his soy numbers were actually down a little bit.  he still can't eat things with soy protein, but maybe it's a trend.  all around, it went pretty well.

air france: blah

this morning we woke up so so early to get to the zurich airport for our 7:30 flight to paris.  in paris we were going to get on the non-stop flight to slc.  best flight from europe ever.  you get on the plane in paris and get off at home.  no atlanta.  no new york city.  it's the best.  but, air france is the pits.  last time we flew air france we had engine trouble over the atlantic halfway to chicago and instead of continuing on, we turned around and went back to paris.  lame.  well, our flight this morning was canceled so we were left scrambling with lots of other americans, to get on a flight to the u.s.  luckily, we get rebooked on the zurich-atlanta flight, but it cost us about eight hours.  delta gave us each a $200 travel voucher for our inconvenience.  we made it home tired, but safe and the kids weren't that happy to see us--they loved their baby-sitters.

bonus christmas market

today we had some extra time before we needed to get into zurich, so we hit a bonus christmas market!  it was one of the best we saw.  colmar, france is a beautiful old town with canals.  and we had the best lunch ever--i had quiche (cause we were in france) and craig got rusti, which is something we've had before in switzerland.  i think there are a lot of variations, but it's basically local potatoes made into hash browns, cooked in a skillet sometimes with sauce and meat.  this rusti had pork medallions and bernaise sauce.  it was delish.  i'm lucky that craig shared part of his food with me!

we got into zurich after dark.  but it gets dark around here really early.  we checked in and then went to find somewhere to eat in the old town.  zurich is beautiful at night.

i was a little annoyed with the food people of zurich.  i really really wanted fondue, but we were turned away at every restaurant we tried.  finally, after walking around for 90 minutes, a table opened up.  it was good, but i got tired of the cheese after awhile.

france

this morning we peeked into the nurmburg market just to see it in the light.  we also enjoyed a second helping of the yummiest treat of the trip:  apples breaded then fried and topped with vanilla sauce.  they were so delicious.  we ate them while talking to a japanese couple who live in munich but are from a small town in japan that they thought we would never know, but it's a town craig has been to many times.  small world.

on our way to our final destination in france tonight, we stopped over at the rothenburg christmas market.  i'm telling you, we could have stayed all of december and not run out of markets.  rothenburg is a lovely old walled town in germany.  this was my third visit, but i've never been there in december. 

then we drove into france.  our destination was strasbourg.  craig and i were talking on the way about the fact that strasbourg is in a region of france near the border of germany.  this area has changed hands between france and germany a few times because it's a fertile area.  as we were driving, we were wondering what strasbourg would look like--whether it would look like german or france.  i was amazed that immediately upon driving into strasbourg, the architecture completelly changed to wrought-iron railings and french architecture.  the strasbourg market was the only christmas market with chandelier decorations outside.  that's definitely french.

at home today, jake's school choir got to sing at the assembly hall on temple square.  we heard it was amazing!

continuing our tour of deutschland

this morning we woke up in munchen and walked down to the marienplatz to see the christmas market in the day light.  we went to a few other markets in munich before driving on to regensburg.  at one of the markets we saw st. nicholas:

in regensburg, we walked around their christmas market.  i really liked it and enjoyed seeing it in the day.

we finished up our day in nurmburg, germany.  a jolly christmas market.  my only problem with all the markets was the amount of drinking that went on.  there were many stalls in each market devoted to warm alcoholic drinks.  i could tell the people drinking these hot drinks were warmer than we were, but i was annoyed by the huge crowds around those stalls that impeded progress. 

craig wanted to buy everything he saw.  it's trouble when i'm the voice of reason.  haha.

meanwhile back at the ranch, byu played utah in basketball and isaac and sam were there to cheer the cougars to a win.  our niece, olivia, was baptized and we were sorry to miss that important event.  it was also the high school christmas dance.  it's sounds like a fun time was had by all.