Ringing in the New Year

I love New Year's Eve at my parents. The food is always wonderful and the games are always enjoyable.

I love watching my family enjoy one another. There was no tension this season, no eye rolling, no grumpiness and no moral debates. I think it is because we all decided to just have fun and play games. For us, I think the biggest difference was that we just resolved to be okay with the girls being out WAY past their bedtimes. Typically, around 8:00 we are rushing to get on the road so that the girls can have their bedtime routine. Doing this means there is stress to make sure everything gets done quickly and smoothly. Plus there is the tension when the girls are whining about not wanting to go home yet so Scott and I both get cranky. Which, of course, makes everyone else cranky.

But this season we stayed late and the kids were exhausted and we paid for it every day, but it was worth it.

The morning of the Nutty Nutcracker, Jade came into our room and said that she was just too tired and that we were doing too many things at night. She asked if we could spend a night at home going to bed early. When she found out that we had the Nutcracker that night and New Year's Eve the next day, she asked if she could take a nap before the ballet. Sweet girl. Tired girl.

Anyway, back to New Year's Eve....

The evening was enjoyed by our family, my parents' neighbors- Gary and Jeanette, their youngest and his wife, the McBride family and briefly my aunt and uncle. It was a full party with great games and conversation.

I'm sure you recognize the game from previous posts.

The kids were excited to get their noise makers and their bubbly.

The adults prepared for the new year by turning on the TV to watch the ball drop.

Dad poured the glasses of bubbly.

And everyone celebrated.

Finally, around 3 in the morning, the two youngest were done celebrating. Mom and I joined them and crashed until the games were over- around 4:30.

Jade and Asher were pretending to be asleep but didn't score a sleep over.

It was a great night (especially since I finished with my end of quarter phone calls just after 7:00 PM- which isn't always the case).

The Birthday Party...

Sweet little Ivy combined her birthday with New Year's Eve. With end of quarter/year, New Year's Eve, Oysters and her birthday all being on the same weekend, we had to consolidate somewhere. She is so sweet that she didn't mind at all. She had a cake and got to open presents and that is really all that mattered to her.

She had so much fun opening presents and loved every single thing she got. And she was extra glad that Asher and Kieran were still in town for her "party".

Daddy presented her cake and she blew out the candles, one by one.

Happy Birthday little Ivy. We love you.

Dinner and the Ballet

When our family goes to Salt Lake, there are two restaurants that we always want to go to- The New Yorker and Greek Souvlaki. When kids are invited, Greek is the way to go. Everyone loves it and eats a ton.

Why were we in Salt Lake? The "Naughty Nutcracker" of course. Okay okay, it is really the "Nutty Nutcracker" but we all like the name Ivy came up with for it. This was our gift from my parents. It was a wonderful idea and a great activity for the whole family. Everyone had a good time and was entertained.

One thing that we neglected to prepare the kids for was men in tights. Why I didn't think about it before the ballet, I'll never know. But when the first male dancer came out in his light colored tights, all of the kids from 3-17 years old were giggling. "Look at his bum."

Oh heavens!! It is a good thing that we went to the nutty version of the Nutcracker because you were expected to laugh at parts, not parts. Half way through the second half, I moved next to Jade and would gently pinch her leg as a reminder that she shouldn't be laughing. It didn't work.

In the end, the ballet was a wonderful family activity and I'm glad we went. I don't think we've converted that family to ballets but at least they have all been to one.

An evening at the cottage

During the break, our family got to go up to my aunt and uncle's cottage. I always love going up there and escaping from the valley. The cottage will always be special for me, because that is where I said "I do" to Scott.

When Uncle built the cottage, he took every detail into consideration: the most impressive is his fireplace. Because I always love looking at it, I took a few pictures of it.

The kids had a great time up at the cottage working on their Christmas scrapbooks. (The scrapbooks and materials were part of their gift from my parents). I was amazed at how involved each of the kids were and how much effort they put into them.

The older family members played more carcassonne.

Here are the faces of the Carcassonne players. (Mac sat out this game).

Game night(s)

My favorite part of having the Andrus family in town was the multiple late night game nights. The game of choice this season is Carcassone. There were nights they played until 4 in the morning.

I'm just glad they all had so much fun.

Especially this smile made the late nights worth it.

PFAPA update

In the past, I've shared about Ivy's periodic fever syndrome. It has been quite a while since I've given an update.

During the spring we took Ivy to an infectious disease doctor, Dr Russ Osgathorpe. He is a wonderful pediatric specialist. When we went, Ivy had just finished an episode two days before. When he looked at her throat he saw the typical ulcers a child with PFAPA gets. He said that while we were talking about her, he was questioning if PFAPA was the right diagnosis. But after looking at her throat, he was 95% certain that that is what it is. He convinced us to try the prednisone treatment and said if she responded to the prednisone then he would be 100% confident in the diagnosis.

Three weeks later we got to give it a try. When she spikes to at least 101 degrees, we are to give her 1 tsp and then again 12 hours later. The several times we have given it to her, the fever breaks within the hour and doesn't return. Her fevers are less frequent now and with the prednisone, they never get above 101.

We are thrilled with our results.

During the Christmas break, she had an episode. We knew two days before the fever hit that she was starting. As you can see in the pictures below, her eyes start to get a sad looking and she drinks a ton of milk. This time, she enjoyed a root beer float.

Our next step is to get her tonsils and adenoids removed. There is an 80% chance of a cure- which seems like pretty good odds- especially now that we are comfortable with her diagnosis.

If you know of a child that has recurrent fevers that start to fit into a schedule of every 3-4 weeks, suggest they talk to their doctor about PFAPA. The doctor will run a few tests, to rule out anything else. The first test will be blood work measuring their sed rate during a fever and when they aren't fevering. They'll also run a urinalysis and culture to rule out a urinary tract infection. If their tonsils are affected, they'll run a strep test.

The gift exchange...

After we had a quiet Christmas morning and home, we headed down to my parents house for hours of holiday fun. We had a very nice gift exchange where everyone was gracious and excited about their gifts.

This year, Jade asked us if we could wrap an empty box for Grandpa and Grandma. So we did, and when they opened it Jade and Ivy told them that the box was full of kisses. So kisses and kisses and kisses are what they got.

My parents gave everyone in the family tickets to the "Nutty Nutcracker" at the Capitol Theatre. Ballet West does two performances of the with some funny little additions. When Ivy opened her ticket she was so excited and announced that she too gets to go to the "Naughty Nutcracker". Tom exclaimed that he wanted to go to the same show Ivy got tickets to.

Birthday Girl!

I can't believe it has already been 4 years since Scott, Jade and I were walking through the mall in Dearborn Michigan trying to get Ivy to join our family before the new year. Considering I had been on bedrest since week 24 of my pregnancy, you would think a walk around the mall would have kicked me in to labor. Oh no, nothing. She held until just hours before her due date.

When she entered this world, I knew she would be a special little angel. A tender and sweet little girl. When she was days old she found her voice- loud like a raptor. She continues to be tender and sweet and LOUD.

Some of my favorite things about our little Ivy are...

1. Her little closed mouth smile that reminds me of Lucy Little

2. The songs she sings in bed when she's trying to keep herself from falling asleep

3. The funny little ball she gets into when she's trying to do a cartwheel

4. Her squeaky little voice that calls for me whenever I leave the room

5. Her "nuggles" before bed and in the middle of most nights

6. How she can carry on a conversation with herself for a 20 minute drive

7. She has several imaginary friends- Tinka, Linka, Locka, Pinka to name just a few

8. The way she remembers every one's names from church, dance, Jade's school and anywhere else she meets someone

She is such a funny little character and we are so lucky and blessed to be her parents. She has brought us so much joy, love and laughter. She is a wonderful baby sister and she loves her big sister more than anything.

Happy Birthday Princess Ivy. We love you!!!

Jade, dance clothes and a belly button

Scott's parents came over Christmas morning to give the girls and us presents. The girls got dance clothes and loved them all. Jade and Ivy posed by them and asked that I take their pictures. Jade posed (notice the cup behind her)...

... so she moved the cup...

...but then her belly button showed...

...and daddy teased her...

...so she pouted.

Why does teasing almost always end in a pout?

Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning began at 9:00 when the girls wandered into our room. We made our way to the stairs by 9:15 for the annual stairs picture. Ivy was not excited about the picture- she said she was really tired. Good thing Jade was cooperative.

Their Santa present was a computer. (The monitor is a hand-me down) but we didn't think they would understand what just the tower was. The favorite thing about their computer was the super cute pink mouse that Scott found. Neither one of them expressed very much excitement over the computer. Ivy was far more excited that Santa brought her the new mouthwash that she had been asking for her "WHOLE LIFE". It's always wonderful when you can meet the needs and wishes of your children.

The girls distributed gifts and played the role of Santa. Some were a little too heavy so they were pushed.

A couple presents were bigger hits than others. For example, the Zhu Zhu's were a smash! The girls loved them and cuddled them and kissed them. I loved that neither of the girls had ever heard of them before- so they had no idea how lucky they were to get them. As many of you may know, Scott is the best shopper EVER. He finds deals in places that no one would ever expect. Several weeks before Christmas he informed me that he had ordered two Zhu Zhu's and that they were the big toy of the season. He found them online at Shopko and paid the msrp for them- while others were paying outrageous amounts for these $12 toys.

Jade's other favorite toy was a roller coaster game for the Wii. She fell over "dead" from excitement.

Ivy loved everything she got and enjoyed stacking them into a tower.

In the end, here's our display of Christmas presents.

What did Scott and I get? Scott got a really awesome Rowenta iron. I got backdrop stands and backdrops. I'm so excited to start using them.

What a WONDERFUL decade this has been...

As I look back on the last decade I am extremely overwhelmed with gratitude for all that I have been blessed with. There have been very difficult times but also the happiest times of my entire life. As this new decade begins, I would like to recap some of the highs and lows of each year.

2000- The year started out with a huge and painful loss. My grandma proved to all of us that there was something to fear about Y2K. Grandma was NOT Y2K compatible. She died very early in the morning on the 2nd of January after she threw a blood clot from a broken leg. The doctors wouldn't fix it the week before when they found it because it was considered "elective" surgery and they wouldn't do elective surgeries for 2 weeks prior to Y2K- just in case.

The year started out on a difficult note, but the rest of the year was wonderful. I started work at Novell and I taught seminary at Alta High School. I was dating more than I ever have and then I met him, the "Hottie in the office" and was excited that he didn't wear a wedding ring because he wasn't married. The courtship began in September of 2000. We went duck hunting and I got my own waders. It was at that moment Scott knew he could marry me, but it took him a few months until he knew that he wanted to marry me.

2001- Scott Sanford proposed to me. Both versions of the story are worth sharing- but I'll save those for another day. On May 5th, we were married at my Uncle's cottage in Sundance. It was a perfect day.

That fall Scott started graduate school and I continued to work.

2002- Scott did an internship with Ford in Michigan and we found out that we were expecting Jade.

We were also sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for eternity.

2003- Jade joined our little family and I learned a whole new meaning for happiness.

That summer we moved our little family to Louisville, Kentucky where we bought our first house. We loved getting the yard put together and decorating the house to be our home.

2004- Scott and I enjoyed the rainy season in Jamaica for a getaway without Jade. We got to go to the Kentucky Derby and my cousins came out to experience it with us. It was the first rainy Derby in decades.

2005- Jade and I headed to Utah where I took a job with LANDesk, Scott took a promotion and moved to Michigan. It was extremely difficult being apart but we went back and forth as often as possible. The week before we moved, we found out that Ivy would be joining our family in January.

Scott and I got to go to a NASCAR race with Josh and Lisa. We also enjoyed the luxury suite at the horse races. Soon after that Josh and Lisa tied the knot. The next day I was put on bed rest for preterm labor.

Jade and I joined Scott in Michigan for the rest of the pregnancy and we love finding the fun in Dearborn.

2006- The year started out with Ivy joining our family in Dearborn, MI. Both sets of grandparents came out to help and play in the cold of Michigan while we explored Frankenmuth.

In the early summer, our family was reunited in Utah where we bought a lot and started to build our home. We lived in my grandparents' condo for a season and were grateful that Scott got a job with Novell.

2007- We moved into our new home and spent the rest of the year getting the house and yard put together.

In April we took Jade and explored Germany and Austria in our new car. Ivy stayed with our nanny and missed us.

For work I traveled over 50,000 miles on Delta and 25,000 miles on United- I hope I never have to repeat that again.

2008- Scott and I got to go to Saint Lucia for my company's president's club. It was a wonderful vacation and the girls had a blast with my parents.

I broke my foot on my dad's birthday and had surgery a month later.

We took the girls to Disneyland for their first time and they want to go back again and again.

For 2009 you can see the recap of the year, here.

Quite the decade- I LOVED 2000- 2009 and can't wait to see what the next decade will bring my family.

Happy New Year...

To wrap up this year, I would like to share with you some of the memories that stand out to me from 2009.

January- Ivy started dance and had so much fun that Jade decided she wanted to be in dance too.

February- Our family took a quick impromptu getaway to Midway.

March- Jade performed at a gymnastics meet at BYU and absolutely loved watching the BYU gymnasts.

April- This was an excellent month! Easter, a freakish spring snow storm, WICKED at Capitol Theater with our parents and another getaway this time to Bear Lake.

May- I finally got to wear a Prom dress to our ward prom and Jade graduated from kindergarten. Ivy and Jade had their dance recital and both fell in love with performing. We also got to watch Grandpa Great at the Golden Spike re-enactment.

June- We had a huge project where Scott put a rectangle trampoline in the ground. Jade and Ivy both learned how to ride their bikes- Ivy with training wheels and Jade without.

July- The girls experienced their first rodeo and it stormed the whole time. We took another getaway but this time to St George for a wonderful couple of days at the Sand Dunes.

August- Our life became a life of boaters. We spent weekends and nights out on the boat learning how to wake board. Jade also started First Grade and both girls made the performing companies at the VIBE dance studio.

September- More boating and a great Labor Day at the Thanksgiving Point Luau.

October- We saw several movies, rode the Haunted Train, and had a mouse problem- yuck!

November- We went to California and had a wonderful time playing with my brother's family, spent a day at the Sand Dunes and went to the top of the world at Snowbird.

December- A very busy month filled with Jade winning the reflections contest, a polar bear swim, a Christmas program and dance demonstrations wrapped up with the girls seeing their first ballet.

What a full and wonderful year! Can't wait to see what 2010 brings.

Happy New Year!