Welcome 2009!

I would like to say that we partied hard this New Year's Eve, but in reality, we spent the day and night with one sick little person. Sabrina got croup again and had to miss Aunt Jac's Rockin' New Year's Eve Party with cousins (please do this again next year!). I took her to the Student Health Center where they told me she probably had a Urinary Tract Infection (WHAT? I told you she's been coughing and wheezing with a fever and this is what your diagnosis is? Thanks for nothing.) Not satisfied with this diagnosis, I headed back to Alpine Pediatrics the next day (SHC was closed, thankfully). Turns out she did have croup. They shot her up with steroids, and we are happy to report that she is feeling better although the "roid rage" today has been a little trying. We are watching Lucy closely for signs of illness; so far she just smiles and gabs as we watch. Hopefully the rest of 2009 will be better than the first couple of days. I love New Year's resolutions so here are ours for 2009:

Paul: Study harder (excuse me...is this possible?), watch more Jazz games (again...possible?), read El Libro De Mormon, eat right, exercise, get wash board abs.

Lindsay: Find ways to spend more time as a mom and less time as a housekeeper, read more, run a race (not committing to distance yet), get into my old pants (which will probably be out of style by the time I get back in them), do FHE faithfully (weekly and with faith).

Sabrina: Hit 25 lbs., obey mom and dad, get cuter and funnier.

Lucy: Learn to roll, crawl, walk, talk, eat food, use a sippy, graduate from a bottle, sleep 12 hours at night, use utensils, laugh at jokes, steal my sister's toys, get cuter. (When you really look at it, Lucy has the most ambitious list of all. She's a go-getter.)

Events to look forward to: My birthday on 9/9/09 (not quite as cool as 9/9/99; but still cool), big DC move, start of preschool, having a 3 year-old, having a 1 year old.

And may all your Christmases be....

WHITE!

This is what we woke up to Christmas morning. It was spectacular. Everything about Christmas this year was wonderful. Our official celebrating began with the Ellison Family Christmas Eve Party that did not disappoint. Shelley and I got together one day (my cousin, Amy, was right when she said that we should never be left alone!) and came up with some ideas for the party including a special white elephant passing game, a jolly visitor, a nativity puppet show (on a related note: Shell, you really should write, direct, and star in your own children's television show, you're a triple threat...think about it.), and a stocking bar. I have such good memories of this party growing up and I still enjoy getting to see all my aunts, uncles, and cousins every year. We then came home, got in our Christmas jams, put the girls to bed, and got annihilated in Boggle by Jeff. My mom came too and was my partner in crime in MadGab.

The girls woke up at a very pleasant 8:00 AM (this may be one of the last years we enjoy our sleep). Sabrina walked in to the living room and said, "Wow! Look at all the presents!" Her enthusiasm was contagious and so exciting as she opened every present and ooed and awed at them all. Santa even wrapped our gum and toothbrushes, and she was equally excited when she opened them as she was to open her other gifts. Lucy spent the morning by drinking a bottle and sleeping in the swing. Sabrina was thrilled that she got to "help" Luce open her presents. Sabrina's favorite present: the twin dolls and baby carrier. Lucy's favorite present: the Gymboree tutu (okay...it's really my favorite present. Adorable). I think this is the first year that Paul and I really understood that Christmas is all about the kids, and our favorite present was watching the girls rip into their gifts.

We then headed to Grandma Irene's for breakfast, and I must give my 85 year-old grandma credit for still being the best short order waffle and eggs cook around. She's pretty amazing. Then we headed to the Sampsons and enjoyed the rest of the day and more gifts there, including one downright adorable leopard print poncho for Sabrina made by Grandma Sampson and a book with ALL of Carolyn's fantastic recipes. We came home exhausted, but thankful. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

P.S. I forgot to rotate some pics. Just lay on your side when viewing!

It's a Wonderful Movie

As a kid my cousin, Amy, and I went through a throwback era where we had sleepovers (sometimes 2 or 3 nights in a row) and would watch whatever old musical or movie we could find at the Sounds Easy Video Store. We saw literally every Gene Kelly, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire classic we could get our hands on. Some were good, some were great, and some were terrible (those were the ones we'd take out about a half hour in and replace with Troop Beverly Hills [not a throwback]). We saw West Side Story at least 50 times and laughed every time at the "Chino" dance move that only a true fan would notice. I blame this era of time for adding 2 of my top 10 movies of all time (although, now that I'm thinking about it, I may have to add West Side Story to my list), and it is probably also the reason that I never saw (and have still never seen) a Star Wars movie. Those two movies: 1. Singin' in the Rain and 2. It's a Wonderful Life. The latter is the topic of this blog post. I watch this movie every year at Christmas time. This year while watching (and doing dishes and folding laundry) I noticed some things:
1. Jimmy Stewart is the biggest over-actor there is. Hands down. I just don't think he would make it in today's Hollywood.
2. Donna Reed is the prettiest person Hollywood has ever produced.
3. Is this show socialist or what? Made right after FDR.
4. It is a tragedy when George Bailey sees that Violet has gone to work as a "dancing girl" in downtown Pottersville, but it is a TRAVESTY to see that Mary has become an "old maid who works at the library." Anything but that!!!
5. This show doesn't have that much to do with Christmas at all.
6. We have become very sloppy as a society. George Bailey wears a full suit every day and Mary a dress to do her housework.


And yet, I still cried. Cried like a baby. Here's to next year.

A Saleswoman I'm Not

Anyone who knew me during my days at 1800Contacts can tell you that I couldn't sell free food to a hungry man, but here's my shameless attempt. Rusty and Tara, my good friends and entrepreneurs, started The Blog Frog about a year ago. It's a service where you can go to list your blog/facebook page and find the blogs/facebook pages of people you'd like to contact or reconnect with. Not only that, but there are some sweet widgets you can add to your blog like the chat wall and news feeds that I have added to this blog. It's totally free too. In fact, since adding the chat wall, I think I'm done with Facebook altogether (I'm beginning to think that people who claim to be my "friends" are really just kind of nosey; I can say that because this blog is private). Anyway,Check it out.

Red Letter Day

Lucy was blessed December 7, 2008 by her dad during the sacrament meeting of the Mount Mahogany 4th Ward. She was an angel as always, and Paul gave a great blessing. We live for days like this and realize how lucky we are to have the friends and family that we do to share in our joy.

Creature of Habit

Sabrina is turning into the funniest little person you could ever imagine. I think the age of 2 gets a 10 on the "comedy" scale and about a 3 on the "willingness to comply" scale. She insists on doing things her way or no way. Not only this, but things are to be done the exact same way every time. Like, for example, every time we pass the temple this conversation occurs:

Sabrina: I see the temple!!

Mom and Dad: Yep, there it is.

Sabrina: It's about Angel Ni Ni (Moroni).

Mom and Dad: Yep, Angel Moroni's on top.

Sabrina: And pretty dress.

Mom and Dad: Yep, when you get married you wear a pretty dress to the temple.

Sabrina: And Jesus.

Mom and Dad: Yep, Jesus wants us to go to the temple.

Sabrina: And getting married.

Dad: Are you going to get married?

Sabrina: No, I'll just stay by Luce (Lucy) Dad.

It cracks us up every time. In my head I imagine my two spinster librarian daughters riding in the same positions in the back seat of our car forever. It's a sad thought, but funny all the same. This conversation, by Sabrina's insistence, happens the exact same way every single time. The other day, Paul thought he'd spice it up a little and mention Angel Moroni before she did...not a good idea. He was yelled at, and the entire conversation had to start from the beginning again. Gosh, we love her!

Thanksgiving '08

You would think (it being my favorite holiday and all) that I would remember to take some pictures, but in true form...I forgot the camera. Here, however, is a picture of Lucy (we call her "Loose" but there just isn't a good way to spell that...suggestions?). This was taken on my new least favorite holiday, Black Friday. More on that later. This year we had Thanksgiving with the Sampsons (DenDen, Carolyn, Nate, Aryn, Dan, and BillieJo). The food was fantastic. The company was great. We ate too much and came home with even more. Uncle Max shared a visit and kept us laughing ("I call that figure skating").

The next day Lucy woke up at about 5:00 AM. I fed her, then remembered that it was Black Friday. "Why not," I thought. "I'm up." I headed to the worst place in the world (aka WalMart) because I had seen that they had a screamin' deal on a digital camera. And since all of our pics are rather blurry (admit it...you've noticed), we thought this would make a good Christmas gift. "Bad idea." "Never again." These are the thoughts that were running through my head as I rammed my cart through crowded isles of tired, not nice people, who seriously needed some perspective. In the end, I did NOT get a new camera. That's all I'm going to say about that. I feel that I needed to post this story so that next year when I'm tempted by all the ads, I'll remember this phrase... "NOT WORTH IT."

Happy Holidays Everyone!