It's 2016!! Time to leave Utah and go home

We got here on a holiday and we are going to leave on a holiday.  It was such a fun week and we loved visiting with family and friends.

Maxwell and Maryn had fun throwing up the confetti from last night.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Blanks' for one last visit on this trip.

Playing their "trumpets"  (taihat have been at Grandma's as long as I can remember)

Showing Grandpa some love

Group pic courtesy of Peter's iPhone and Apple watch

At the airport in Vegas on our layover, Maxwell wanted to be the one to ask if the flight was overbooked (he remembered what happened in Phoenix on the way here).  It was super cute, he went up to the counter to ask and the gate attendant was so sweet and asked him if he wanted to look and see and then she lifted him on her lap and showed him where to look on the screen.  

We had quite a long time waiting for our next flight so we were trying to keep the kids happy.

Thank goodness for electronics and open spaces for the kids to run around in.

We got Emmalyn this yogurt and she was really enjoying it.  

Then, all of a sudden, I look over and she has a funny look on her face and is coughing and upset.  I couldn't tell what was wrong so I gave her some water and thought she wanted a drink.  That didn't work and she kept being upset and then all of a sudden she starts throwing up just at the time Peter was looking at the yogurt and noticed a piece of the spoon was missing.  She had broken the spoon and partially swallowed a sharp piece of the spoon!!!!  Luckily she was able to throw it up (it was a huge mess -- yogurt throw up everywhere).  It took me awhile to calm down because I just kept thinking "what if"...  What if she had swallowed that sharp piece of plastic and it cut her throat or her stomach or intestines???  What if when I gave her that water it had washed the plastic down her throat?  What if there had been serious complications while we had been up in the air?!

Everything was okay (other than the big mess to clean up) but it was scary.  I'm sooooo glad things were okay,

Changed into a new outfit, binky to keep her happy, and a momma not wanting to let her go...

She was so tired on the plane but struggled to get comfortable.  It's a little blurry to see but she's laying head down on the tray

We flew over downtown Dallas - - gorgeous!

I was worried about how it would be to fly on the holidays but it was great.  It was a little rushed on Christmas morning but I would still do it again.  

We spent a lot of time in the car driving around in Utah and it was fun because both kids were singing to all the pop songs on the radio.  I was amazed how many they knew.

Emmalyn was nervous being around so many new people.  When I was holding her and she was nervous, she would put her hands on my cheeks and keep saying "Momma".  

Emmalyn started being a pest to her brother and kept pestering her brother when he would want to be alone.  She knew exactly what she was doing.

First week of 2013

2013 started off great.  We got to enjoy 2 more days with Kimberly, Tyler, and Kaitlyn.  Max was finally warming up to them!  We noticed on January 1st that Max's first two molars had broken through on the top of his mouth.  No wonder he'd been so drooly!

Holiday left overs make for yummy meals! (I made Grandma B's jello for the first time, so yummy!)

Kaitlyn got her reading practice in by reading to Max.

There was lots of "boy" playing over the past week!

He liked Kaitlyn's reading so much that he sat down and got comfy.  :)  So sweet!

This is how we saw Kimberly quite frequently - we gave her a hard time about it, of course.

Max didn't want Kaity reading to him anymore but he still wanted to be by her.

I went back to work the next day and while I was at work, magic happened.  And by magic, I mean an awesome cleaning lady named Katy.  Seriously I LOVE her.  See those baskets on the fireplace?  That all the laundry she folded for me.

She cleans any dishes that aren't in the dishwasher.  (I do my best to limit this because I feel bad having her clean my dishes.)

There is nothing better than climbing into bed at night after Katy has made the bed.  She must have gone to school for bed making because she's amazing!  I count my blessings that we get to have her come every 2 weeks.  It has been a very worthwhile expense for us.  It has removed stress on our marriage to not have to bicker about cleaning the house.  It frees up time for me on the weekend to spend time with Max instead of cleaning toilets.  PLUS it means I HAVE to completely tidy my house every 2 weeks because I don't want her to have to tidy it.  It ensures my house never turns into a complete disaster. 

I'd love to say that I'm a neat freak and not messy at all however I have come to accept the fact that it's not true.  I leave stuff all over and am not great at putting things away when I touch them plus I get distracted and move onto something else.  Oh well, that's why I work hard!! So I can have someone make up for my shortcomings.  :)

Video - When we were looking for our house our realtor talked about how with all the building going on around us, we would probably get to see some of the workers "throw" bricks.  He said that's how they got bricks from the ground up to the scaffolding above.  I've been looking for that and finally got to see it!  I took a quick video.  It's pretty cool.  The brick worker takes multiple bricks, throws them to the guy above him, who catches all of them at once.  I think it's pretty cool - you can watch.

We spent Kimber's last night over at Britt's house.  Max finally had warmed up to them.  He sat on Kimber's lap and here he cuddled with Ty.  It's too bad they had to go back home and next time we will have to start from scratch.  I love my sister, niece, and nephew.  I am so glad they got to be here for so long and we could all celebrate the holidays together.

Video - Here is Max's goodbye wave.  It's no longer the pageant wave.

Silly boy

Video - Max was singing in the car and I wanted to capture it so I held my phone over his car seat.  I didn't realize until I watched the video later that he was waving with his hand.

Max hadn't been feeling too hot for weeks.  At first I thought it was just a cold but then this week he had a fever, his cough was worse, and he just seemed sick even after his teeth broke through.  I had regularly been putting essential oils on Max to help him get over whatever it was.  I struggled with whether or not to take him to the doctor but eventually decided to go.  I didn't want to not get him help if he was really sick with something that could only be helped with some medicine.  So, on January 4th, to the pediatrician we went, for the very first time for anything other than a well child visit.  (Not bad considering he's almost 18 months old.)

Trying to get into everything

I love when he stands on his tip toes.  :)

His doctor checked him out and the good news was that it wasn't anything other than a possible cold.  The bad news, that meant he would just have to get over it.  It stinks to spend money to be told that nothing is wrong and nothing can be done.  But, of course, Max is worth it and I was glad to have the peace of mind to know he was okay.

Happy new year!!!

Yeah for a new year!  A year that I get to spend looking at this sweet face sounds like a great year to me!

Movie with all the things that I am looking forward to with Max in 2012:



Happy New Year

Bright New Stripes New Year's

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