xmas 2009 @ obrien house

so on the heals of colds and saylor getting over pneumonia we started xmas break with stomach flu! saylor started the sat night before xmas and into that sunday. i started monday and so did storie. Scary thing is tue morning we were supposed to get in the car and drive 6 hours to vegas! i was weary of how this was all gonna work out! The cougs gave us tickets to the bowl game and saylor really wanted to go watch "her boys" play football one more time this year. I was sure the boys would get it, such a viscous virus ... but they didnt. and though storie and i still didnt feel great we got to vegas without any chaos.

the game was fantastic! it was so windy and cold. all of us girls gave into the wind eventually, the boys hung tough but really it was such a great game and we had so much fun. saylor got to kiss cosmo again ... she couldnt have been happier! we didnt do any of the vegas usual. just spent good family time at a non vegas type hotel! love embassy suites! kids got to swim and play. drive home went smooth as well. and still no boys throwing up.

christmas eve we spent eating just like the rest y'all! storie was in a little bible story play that we went to that really made me realize how chaotic our lives had gotten and how the focus of the season was not focused for us at all. oh the guilt of a mother. thanks storie for some spirit! kids got pjs and actually went to bed! no waking up to bug us etc.. it was nice. they did wake up early {6am} but no bug during the night and went to bed at 10, for their age not so bad!

I really tried hard to stick to $100 max budget on each kid. aint no small feet! but finances are tight and i think toning it down a bit is just due, especially in thinking about what i want my kids to think and learn about xmas. so lets start with the babe!


saylor doesnt usually want something typical for a 6 year old, or for any age she has been for that matter! this year it was touch n brush and has been almost all year. she wanted it a while ago and hasnt forgotten. i guess this proves that infomercials work. she was so excited when she got it! but she instantly told all of us we could use it! what a girl. i still cant grasp that this angel is mine! she got a sweet kid size metal grocery cart from grandpa murph thats been a hit as well as a special horse blankie from grandma lulu. lots of tinkerbell stuff too. and i did stay under $100 for this one!

next stock the rock!

this kid is so easy! he just wants sports stuff not kid stuff. so he wanted new receiver gloves, new singlet, new wrestling shoes. and thats pretty much all he got besides snow gloves, $5 year long subscript to sports illustrated kids and stuff from grandparents! i did go over the $100 here but i have to say that wrestling shoes were a must regardless his old ones were falling apart and those were $75!!!! but if i took those away i so came way under $100.


the older this one gets the more she touches my heart. one incredible spirit. this girl really went above and beyond. got us all even grandparents thoughtful gifts on her own and made us some too! she made rice babies with grandma gayla and gave them to all of us! what a doll. she wanted big girl stuff like earings, perfume, and clothes. and she got it. and i stuck to my budget. she is growing up so fast. its making me sad. i want so badly to stop time sometimes. she had her first boarding lesson just before xmas too and she is loving it, taking to it well and i think we will be boarding together soon enough!


this is the kids opening rock band from gpa murph! that has been the hit of the whole family. we have had so much fun playing rock band as a fam and with some friends.

as for nate and i! well i got nate subscript to espn mag, some pants, some shirts, a trader joes orange, a movie & some love! He got me an owners chair {kind of like a managers chair right, but owners!} its black leather with white stitching, so me! and the perfume i wanted, iphone accesories and apps and love of course. mom got me lots of meyers! my fav! and dads really helped financially this year!

it was a great peaceful holiday. love being together with my little fam.

the weekend brought a lot of work for me, had HUGE wedding monday that went off with HUGE success. it was a great one. check the studio blog in a few weeks for pics. but now things are calm and i am just enjoying veg time with my kiddies and hub. girls arent feeling great, they both have colds. we just cant escape it all. but i hope to keep it under control enough.

i cant believe its nearly 2010. i have been thinking a lot about where we have been and who we have become, what we have experienced and with that thought comes thougths about what is to come for us this coming year. i remember clearly the interesting feelings i had last year at this time. the sense of no peace and what came after that. i feel peaceful this year but maybe thats just hopeful. in the end i (we) can handle it all and through all the challenges happiness is still what i feel. so much gratitude too. i am so happy with things. not to say i dont have some goals ..oh the goals the long list of goals. may i accomplish some of them!

catch up. wrestling. house

ill start by catching you up. so no matter how hard i try to avoid saylor becoming ill it cant be done. she ended up with a bad case of pneumonia and she is just now really starting to feel better. a cold for her is no simple thing. i appreciate all your prayers, thoughts, phone calls, texts etc.. it really makes me so grateful for an amazing support system. when people ask me how we "do it" well we dont do it alone!

so i know you likely need some visual at this point in following this blog ... so here is the tree for this year!

so i never have been able to get an astounding pic of any of my xmas trees (ok well of any tree period) but i am not photog and i can embrace that. so this year i wanted a slightly flocked look on our new little tree and an orange theme so for the most part the colors are shades of orange. one of my fav colors + it compliments so well with our wall color. getting excited for xmas. just a few more things to take care of. its stressful as always. we did set a goal this year to not spend more then $100 on our kids. for those of you shopping for kids you know this is near impossible! and i have to say after lots of leg work and research we accomplished it. at least for presents. the kids have a lot of extras going on right now ... wrestling, snowboarding, and medical bills of course. is that part of xmas? then we have gone wayyyyyy over! but really just gift under the tree wise i did it. and i did it well and with plenty to open.

so i know i havent been great about posting pics of the house. here is a pic of my room.

the color scheme is my favorite room scheme of all time. this room is ittty bittty. but its serves its purpose and is really functional thanks to some clever and thought out solutions. i heart it.

we never have posted wrestling pics so here you go, great shot of stock taking one down with a great shot.

so last four tourni stats on stock 3 first place and one 6th. the 6th was at salt lake slam, a bigger tourni where kids come from all over the US. and let me tell you, you dont travel to another state for wrestling unless your kid rocks! so there were some really really good kids there. i can barely fathom the travel to richfield and making that worth it. but as it turns out stock and nate will be traveling a lot this year for wrestling, some ops have fallen in their laps they cant pass up. such athletes.

ok thats it for today. have way to much to do!

miriam

We heart this girl. What an amazing spirit. so glad she is our friend!

not sure what to say

i have no great picture to add to this. and i am not even sure what will be the end result of this post. i feel combobbled to some degree. but i thought i would post an update.

nate - so busy coaching wrestling and gone every night of the week. had tons of fun over thanksgiving break off of work, spending time with his brothers and family, playing tons of football, hunting and of course the BYU/Utah game. his aunt passed away the week of thanksgiving. not sure he even remembers her but always bittersweet on some level. happy and healthy as always!

Me - well i am so spiritually, physically, mentally overwhelmed. i feel like i need to share the gospel more on this blog, or at least share my testimony and the spirit that accompanies so much of my life. but i am having a hard time finding the words. i have been really impressed to work harder on being a better mom to my 3 kids who are very much in need. a kinder more patient & loving wife, and have more spiritual consistency in my life. i am healthy and as of late (knock on wood) have been thinking how nice it is that i havent been sick in a while, i catch everything it seems. christmas is so fun but overwhelming. i am struggling to seem at home for some reason too. i have this weird surrealness surrounding me right now. getting my blasted english class finished up is what i really need to get done in order to lift some pressure and ease my mind a little. refocus. i need to be more careful about the way i speak. another goal. and YW is great i taught a simple floral design class to them all last night and felt really happy during those hours.

studio stems - lots of fun things going on here. on the heals of my learning experience in SF i have put some marketing strategies to work and you know what they are working. i am so pleased. also soon the publications for the year come out and i am so thrilled to be in nearly every single one editorially. and also i hear from a bird that one of my bouquets from a UTB&G shoot is on the cover! cant wait. also new logo change and site/blog uplift as well as cards and promo stuff. some great stuff going on with UBB and lots of writing writing writing.

storie - couldnt be more extatic to be learning to board this year. got her a whole season rental at sports authority. she is taking lessons at sundance through her school. amazing program its making me like rock canyon more! she is doing well in violin and loves choir. doing really well in school as always but needs more attention i sense. she recently got an email account. great is all i can think. she is growing up. not ready for that. she wants clothes, jewlery, and girl things for xmas and i am loving that.

stockton - has taken 1st in the last two wrestling tourni's but has a big intense one this weekend, salt lake slam. still cant hardly be caught with out a football in his hands. he is ready for all things sports related for xmas. i struggle to help him with expressing his frustration and anger. well his emotions all together. we continue to butt heads a little and i really want to work this out so that we can have a golden relationship. doing well in school and healthy though.

my little miss saylor - she has had such a high for weeks now. so many great things happening in her life. good friends. great experiences. and relatively healthy. she is struggling with daily headaches and stomach problems that now are wearing thin on all of us involved in her care. i cant seem to find good grounding for how to help her or what to do next. we are working on some diet changes for now. but we anticipate that tethered cord surgery is in the not to distant future. but otherwise school is going ok. she has an amazing support system of friends and teachers that adore her! it didnt take long. she wants to start skiing again and i sincerely hope that works out this season.

and for now that is all i have to give and spit out. so much to do, so little time. warm regards and gratitude for all of you.