Goodbye 2015

2015

Phew.

You have been a busy year.

We started the year off with a new baby. Sutton has brought so much joy into our lives. Our family feels complete. We all dote on him and he is way too spoiled already. He is fun but man do you forget how much work babies are!

Then Sutton got RSV. Two weeks in the hospital. Not easy when you have two other kids and a husband in the middle of busy season. He eventually got released but we had to continue oxygen and lots of doctor's appointments for the following weeks.

Tax season. It is a recurring craziness. I'm thankful for the career (and salary) it provides Chad, but busy season blows.  There's no other way to say it. It means crazy, INSANE hours. I don't know how Chad does it. I also wonder how I am going to manage everything at home some days. 

Lots of house projects. We updated the kitchen, fireplace, and downstairs bathroom. I loved the way it looked, but house projects are exhausting.

More studying for CPA exams. How I loathe CPA exams!!! However, a huge high point of this year was Chad passing his last exam.

Moving to Texas. What?! I still can't believe I agreed to it sometimes. This made for a very stressful end of the year. It started with a flurry of packing and trying to get the house on the market. Then Chad lived in Dallas, while we stayed in Vegas for FIVE WEEKS. Lots of hours spent packing, cleaning, selling things, firming up moving details, etc.  Then we stayed at my sister's house. What was supposed to be one week turned into three. We were grateful for their hospitality but five people are not meant to live in one room together.  On November 16th we finally closed on our home!!!

Family vacation in Salt Lake in the middle of unpacking boxes and painting. The vacation was awesome but the timing was terrible.

Unpacking, painting, decorating, etc. during the holiday season. We tried our best to make Christmas special but we definitely scaled back. We were pooped!

Is it a wonder we're a little tired??!! I still hate to sound like a Debbie Downer. There were lots of great moments throughout the year, but overall I would say this year was a little stressful. 

The good news is things have slowed WAY down and we are finding our new groove in Texas. And I hate to admit it but I think it is a BETTER groove.  Amidst the craziness of this past year we have been BLESSED time and time again. Everything has eventually worked out and sometimes even better than we could've imagined. Glory to God!

Fingers crossed for a relaxing 2016.

(A girl can hope right?)

This & That

Keller found a new use for his Little Coupe trailer and Sutton just so happened to love it. How adorable are they?!

 The Ogdens came over for dinner and a game night. The weather obviously didn't know because a huge storm came through and we ended up in the closet under a tornado warning.

 Luckily we were fine, but a few big tornadoes did some serious damage not that far away from us.  We enjoyed some family game time after we came out of the closet. Haha

 We have been teaching Vance how to play Ticket to Ride. I love that game and I'm excited to have someone else to play with.

 Jennie bought Sutton this swing for the backyard. He loves it which means I love it! The other day he sat in it for at least 30 minutes while I played with the boys. The best part is I know he is contained so I don't have to watch his every move. Best gift ever! On a side note - I am still loving our backyard and can't believe all that property is ours!

 I have never snapped a picture of Sutton with his blanket but this is how he holds it every time he takes a nap or goes down for the night. So sweet!

 I received a much anticipated delivery! I have been drooling over these light fixtures on Fixer Upper. I finally found them and ordered them. They look amazing in my room. Thanks babe for hanging them right away!

 We are frequent flyers at Chick Fil A, especially when the weather is bad. They have a play place the boys love and I would choose to eat at Chick Fil A over McDonalds any day of the week.

Christmas Day

 Christmas morning we woke up at around 7:00. The boys were practically giddy with excitement. We snapped a quick picture and headed to the family room to see if Santa visited us.

 Vance got lacrosse stuff and a new bike. The bike wasn't on his list and he kept saying how surprised he was and how much he loved it. Santa must know how much he loves to ride his bike ;)

 Keller was thrilled with his Paw Patrol Lookout. He also loved his Bat Cave. This picture says it all -

Sutton got wrapping paper and loved it...

 Wait that's not right! He got a slide and basketball hoop and loved it almost as much as the wrapping paper.

 The boys immediately asked to take their new toys out front to ride them.

 Grandma and Grandpa Sutton got the boys rip riders. They are pretty cool and were a hit!

 How cute is my little Sutton baby Santa?! I could just eat him!

 They decided they wanted to eat a cinnamon roll before opening presents. They love mommy's cinnamon rolls.

 Opening gifts took a few hours because they wanted to open everything as they opened it. Keller couldn't wait to try on his super hero costumes -

 Vance immediately tore open his remote control dune buggy.

 Sutton just crawled around from box to bow to wrapping paper. His eyes were wide open with excitement the whole time.

 Vance was pretty excited about his new jersey.

They loved the new Power Wheels mommy and daddy bought all of them. It's a little tight but they fit quite nicely.

It was a perfectly magical Christmas morning. I love the ages of my boys. Some days parenting is exhausting and beyond frustrating. You forget all that with a day like Christmas. Being a mom is the best and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

Christmas Eve

On the 23rd the boys were not very good. That night we forgot to move our elf. Vance thought it was an early Christmas miracle and wrote a letter to the elf for not telling Santa how bad they had been the day before. The picture cracks me up: Vance's hair, Sutton laying down, etc. He's too funny!

 Christmas Eve morning Chad bought himself a riding lawn mower. I never thought I would say that! Seems crazy that we need that but even with a riding mower it will still take an hour to mow it. The boys thought it was amazing and they each went on a quick ride!

 I was inside baking rolls and cinnamon rolls. When I was done with the frosting, the boys licked the beaters and the bowl. That's always the best part of mom baking when you're a little kid right?

 Sometimes baking doesn't turn out like you hope, but this time I had two pans of perfectly golden rolls and a gooey delicious pan of cinnamon rolls.  Every time my baking turns out perfectly golden I think Grandma Sutton blessed it from above. She taught me all I know about baking.

  Then we got ready for the Christmas Eve festivities. Vance and I have each been working hard on a Christmas piano number. His started out VERY rocky. He was crying it was too hard and wouldn't try. I was frustrated with him. I eventually convinced him to try and in about two days we had made significant progress. Then he was excited and perfected the rest on his own. He played and sang a beautiful rendition of The First Noel. He sings like a sweet angel and brought tears to my eyes Christmas Eve.

 I bought myself The Piano Guys' version of "Where are you Christmas?" It was a challenging piece for me and I really enjoyed practicing it. At the end their is a few lines you are supposed to sing. Vance and Keller sang it and it was freaking adorable. I hope my children love music like I do.

 After we practiced our songs one more time at home, we headed to the Ogden's house for Christmas Eve dinner and games. Sutton wore Vance's old Santa outfit. He was adorable.

 Zach is a stud and absolutely hilarious. This kid brings joy to every occasion. He rocks!

 The Ogdens had our name for the Christmas drawing. They didn't wrap it so they told us to face the wall while they brought it out. Haha

 Rob made us the coolest corn hole game. Seriously, it was amazing. He is beyond handy and we can't wait to play lots and lots of corn hole games in our new yard.

 I know it took him hours and we are so appreciative of both Jennie and Rob!

 How cute were Jennie's centerpieces?!

 She also had a cute hot chocolate bar!

 Appetizers and dinner were delicious. I was too busy eating to take any pictures. While everyone finished up dinner, Vance, Kelsie, and I played our piano songs. Everyone did great. I was so proud of Vance I thought my heart was going to burst.

The Ogdens tradition is to play adults vs. kids games and winners get to pick what time their family is going to wake up Christmas morning. It was serious stuff!

 Here is a group picture with the games and strategically chosen players for each game. It was all written on the board and the games began!

 Vance and Mason took on two of the adults at pool. Sadly they lost.

 Keller chose to play corn hole. 

 Sutton didn't play games because he was too busy getting kissed on by two of his favorite ladies, Jennie and Kelsie.  Sutton (and me) are lucky to have them!

 We also played a little knockout. The kids creamed us!

 An intense round of rock, paper, scissors ;)

 The final event was Hot Wheels racing. Jennie was thoughtful enough to think of something my kids would enjoy. Look how intently everyone is looking to see whose car won. 

 The adults won the games. Once we were done celebrating we did a white elephant. There were some great gifts. To avoid a melt down I brought something I knew Keller would like. This picture of him opening his gift is priceless! He was a little excited ;)

Then we opened and changed into our Christmas pajamas. The kids played while the adults visited. Then we headed home so Santa could come. 

I could hardly sleep I was excited for the next morning!