Christmas

This year we had another amazing Christmas. It started out Christmas Eve at Brock's grandparent's house with delicious dinner, reading of Christmas stories, including Luke chapter 2, and jammies.

Here we are after popping our fun poppers. They have these hats and a toy in them. Jace's toy was a magnifying glass.



We told the boys (Jace, Beckett, Nixon) that we were going to say a prayer to get them to hold still...


...it didn't last very long.


Jace and Nixon each got to open one present. They were thrilled! So were the girls(Kallie, me, Natalie)



Then came Christmas day. It was a long, fun day filled with lots of family time. First we had our own little family present opening session at our house.
We let Jace cut the last ring on his countdown that he made at school.


Our tree


The boys seeing the presents under the tree for the first time. We had been keeping all the presents in our room until then.


Going for it!


Then we made our way to Grandma and Grandpa Keddington's house for some more present opening. Unfortunately (or fortunately for you) I didn't get many pictures of this. It was so great though, like always. Jace just kept saying "Its just what I wanted!" Although, I kept thinking, when you go through every toy catalog, and every toy aisle at every store pointing to everything you see saying, "I want that for Christmas" you're bound to get something you wanted. We just nodded and said, told him he must have been a very good boy this year. After everyone had finished opening, grandpa told the boys to head downstairs for one last present. They LOVED it!




Then it was off to Brock's uncle Gary's house for the annual Keddington Christmas morning breakfast of scones, hashbrowns, fruit, and all sorts of deliciousness. I brought Julia along since she doesn't have inlaws to take care of her while our parents are gone. Again, no pictures.
We made it back to our house in time to get things cleaned up before my brothers and sister came over for our present exchange. Nolan and Treo couldn't make it, but Justin, Maria, Dane, Annie, their girls, Brock, me, our boys, and Julia were all there. We ended up going to Denny's (the only place open) for some lunch. Its crazy what one has to resort to when mom and dad's famous smorgasbord is happening in Malaysia without us. We were able to all gather around the computer for a few minutes though, and Skype them in. And they even sent presents for the boys (and the baby girl) which they LOVED. Here are some pictures of those.

Granny and Grandpa got Jace this awesome Bumblebee transformer glove that makes noises, and shoots. It goes perfectly with the Bumblebee mask that Brock had picked out for Jace.




They got Nixon this riding Mater truck. He loves it so much! And Jace loves to push him, at very dangerous speeds, in the kitchen around our island.



Then it was back to Brock's grandparent's for, yup, you guessed it, more presents. As you can see we were very spoiled, as we are every year. I just can't believe I have to wait 362 more days! Unless you count my birthday, then I only have two months! Yippee! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas as well, and that you have a Happy New Year!

Here Comes Santa Clause!

Well, this year we didn't get any good pictures of the boys with Santa. Jace was perfect, of course. He knows what's at stake. But Nixon doesn't quite understand the "Naughty List" yet. It shows.
Here are pictures from our ward Christmas Party a week ago.



We finally gave up and got Nixon the heck outta there.


Then today Santa came to visit Jace's preschool class. I got them all dressed up in their Christmas pajamas and everything. I thought I had Nixon all excited. He was saying "Santa, Santa, Santa" the whole way there. And even when Santa came, he started chanting his name again. But, as you will see below, he pretty much hates Santa.

Here are some of Darla, one of Jace's teachers, reading Christmas books to the kids while they waited for their special visitor.



Then the big guy showed up, and had all the kids excited.


He even gave each of the kids a blanket. Jace went up to get his before I could get Nixon up there.


And, here we go again. Its not even like a quiet, nervous cry. Its like a "Get back here mom! I think he's going to kill me!" cry.



My sister-in-law Kallie brought Beckett too. He wasn't too big of a fan either.


Maybe next year we'll have some better luck.

Oh BOY!

It's a GIRL! For those of you whom I have not yet contacted, Brock and I went in to have our ultrasound yesterday. I got out of the gym around 10:45, and headed to the 11:00 appointment. I had a message on my phone from the Dr.'s office saying that the ultrasound technician was coming in from Park City and because of the horrible snow storm she was running late. They asked if I could come in later. Well, I was a little upset. I had already waited until 21 weeks, and I could not wait another minute! I told them I was already on my way, and so was Brock, so they said to come on in. I got there, and they had a couple in the room, and there was one couple in front of me. This wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact that I had dutifully drinken, (or is it drank, or drunk) my 32 ounces of water, and I was going to pee my pants. I asked if it would be okay if I went to the bathroom, and the lady said, "Yeah, just empty your bladder a little bit, and then drink some more water. You should be just fine." Um, what? Empty my bladder a "little bit"? Is that even possible? "I can't stop once I've started. It stings!" -Lloyd Christmas, Dumb and Dumber. Anyway, I emptied it all the way, and big surprise, I had to go again like 5 minutes later. When they finally called us back, I was really nervous. She was doing all the normal checks- head size, heart chambers, kidneys, bladder, bla bla bla right? I was trying to see if I could see anything down there. Then she said, "Well, I think...wait just a second." Then she pushed on my stomach and wiggled it all around, and said, yup, you're having a girl!" I immediately started crying, and asked if she was sure. She said she was shaking her around to make sure nothing was hiding. Jace said, "Well, I think its a boy." Brock even got a little teary-eyed. I am still very much in shock, and will hold on to a little skepticism until this baby comes out a girl. I love my two boys more than anything, but I think its time that I get to play dress up! Buy some bows, some jewelry, and some fluffy things. We're so excited!

Christmas Cards

Hey everyone, our Christmas cards just came in. Please leave a comment with your address if you would like one, or you can email it to me at bjkeddington@comcast.net. I have plenty, so don't be shy!

Friday the 13th

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST, but it just happened, and its all very fresh in my mind.

Well, this Friday the 13th we had a little bad luck. I met up at South Towne Mall with Jenn, Talitha, and their kids to play at Dino Land, or whatever you call that cute little place. Its a fun little playground type thing that's free. Anyway, we decided to head upstairs to the food court for some lunch, and about 2 bites into my corn dog from Hot Dog on a Stick Nixon fell and split his chin open. He had been standing backwards on his chair looking at Jace and Mila who got to sit at the cute kid table with chairs 1 foot off the ground wishing he could sit there too. Can you tell that I am kind of beating myself up for this one? How many times did I think to myself, "Just let him sit down there with the other kids. Who cares if he eats his lunch." But no, I wanted to be sitting by him so I could make sure he ate enough of his corn dog. Anyway, he must have slammed his chin so hard into the ground that was practically cement, because when I lifted him up blood was just dripping non-stop. Someone handed me a napkin (sorry, Jenn and Talitha, I don't know what was going on around me) and it quickly filled with blood. When I went to replace it with a wipe, it was still just gushing. I started to get really scared. I got a small look at the cut, or should I say gash, and just started saying how bad it was. Jace overheard me, and came over asking what I had said. I told him that it was really bad, and he looked at me so concerned and asked, "Is Nixon going to die?" I almost started crying. I had been so wrapped up in Nixon, that I made Jace really scared. I told him no, and he went right on eating his corn dog (which he finished before we left, by the way). Nixon was crying this whole time, and I could see blood inside his mouth too, so now I was worried about his teeth. They all seemed to be okay, but he did have a cut in his lower lip. When the blood finally stopped coming, I looked at the cut and it was awful. It was like the force of landing on the ground had just popped it right open. Oh, I wanted to cry. Jenn went to the first aid place and got a band aid, and offered to drive me to the hospital so that I could make sure he didn't start bleeding again, and Talitha was going to take Jace with her to her house, and then it ended up that Jace wanted to come with me, and with the bleeding stopped, and Nixon looking exhausted (it is now 1:00 and nap time) I told them to go, and I would just take them both. They were so sweet, and I am so glad they were there. Anyway, I called Brock and he was able to meet me at Alta View's ER, and boy am I glad he did. It was the worst thing I have ever had to watch. I can't even imagine the pain Nixon was in. They had to have a doctor holding his head still, another one holding his legs down, and Brock and I each holding a hand, while another doctor stitched him up. First though, he had to stick a needle right into the cut to numb it. I thought I was going to start bawling, but I surprised even myself and stayed really strong throughout. Nixon was shaking, and screaming so badly. Then started the stitching. I feel like he wasn't completely numb when they got started because he kept saying ow the whole time. Then, about 10 minutes into it, he calmed down, looked me in the eyes, and we just stared at each other while the doctor kept going. I asked him if he wanted to sing a song and he said yes. So right there in the middle of all these people I don't know I started singing to him. He never took his eyes off me. Then I sang another song, and at the end he started crying OW again. I think the numbing medicine must not have gotten to the last corner. I asked if he wanted another song and he yelled at the top of his lungs "NO! Hold you! Hold you!" That was hard. I wanted to hold him so bad. Anyway, it lasted about 15 minutes and then I did, I held him. Brock came over to us and held us both. I was so glad it was over. He seemed to perk right up from that point on, and then fell asleep on the drive home. He had sure been through a lot. We gave him some Tylenol around 4:00, and since then we haven't had to give him anything. He slept through the night, and besides pointing at his chin and saying "Owie" a couple of times today, he has been completely normal. I am just so glad that he is okay. Last night as I was laying him in his bed I just completely broke down and started sobbing. I guess I had been trying all day to be so strong for him, but now I could just let it out. I cried and cried for about 15 minutes. I couldn't help but to think that if I had just been watching him closer, or let him sit by the other kids, or this, or that, blah blah blah. You know how moms are. I felt like it was my fault that he had to endure all that horrible pain. Brock of course consoled me and told me everything I wanted to hear, but I will feel guilty about this for a long time. I love my little guy, and never want anything bad to happen to him!

Here are a couple of pictures.

Here are some of his shirt. Gross and weird, I know.




And here is the happy boy today. When I ask him to smile he closes his eyes really tight! It bled quite a bit after they put the stitches in and bandages on, and they told us not to get it too wet, so it looks kind of gross. Sorry.

Halloween Festivities...Finally!

The week of Halloween is always a busy one around here. Especially this week, since my parents left on Wednesday I wanted to spend every spare moment I had with them. Monday night we carved pumpkins at their house. I always get so excited about it because the kids are so excited. Leah and Jace were talking about it all day, and kept asking when we were going to do it. Then, when it was finally time, they lasted all of 10 seconds before they were on to bigger and better things (like fighting over a toy or something equally enticing). It ended up just being my dad, my sister, and me. And, I must warn you that Jace took most of the pictures, so they are kind of dark.






Then, Thursday we went to Jace's preschool to trick or treat around the school. His preschool is held at Woods Cross High School, so every year they get to walk around from class to class in their costumes. Just one more way to get free candy! I took Nixon around too, and they had lots of fun. This year Jace was Optimus Prime, the transformer. Nixon was the cutest skunk I have ever seen. And Beckett, their cousin (who just happens to be obsessed with cars right now) was a racecar driver. When they were all done trick-or-treating they went back to their class room and got to pick 2 treats to eat. Really cute kids!









Then came Halloween day. Brock took the boys around our street, and they got some more yummy candy. Then they went with Brock's parents to the Utah game. I thought it was such a dumb idea to have a night game on Halloween, but whatever. Anyway, Brock and I had been invited to a surprise Halloween wedding. That's right, the groom didn't know he was getting married! It was really fun. Everyone was dressed up in costume (Brock a Roman Soldier, and me a Greek Goddess). It was very sweet and ended up being a lot of fun. The couple getting married was Steve, one of Brock's best friends that he used to live with before we got married, and Brittany. They have been engaged for like 5 years, and living together almost as long, so it wasn't a huge shock that they got married. Although he was pretty surprised.



This is us with Lance and Mikki (The Madhatter and Alice)


And here is the happy couple dancing.

Nixon Has Something to Say...

That's right! If you don't keep up with me on Facebook, and if I haven't told you in person, its true. I'm pregnant...again. I am 15 weeks, and due April 20, 2010. That is my sister-in-law's birthday, so hopefully this baby comes a little early, and doesn't steal her day away!