Santa Claus

We have been planning and talking about meeting Santa for weeks.  I think I have been the most excited about it as I dreamed about getting a few great photos of the boys with Santa Claus.  

When we first got to the mall last night, Santa was taking a short 10 minute break.  We waited patiently for him and I even snuck the boys into Santa's chair while we waited.

 For the life of me I could not get both boys to look at me at the same time or keep their hands our of their mouths and keep their eyes open.  My unphotogenic gene has been passed down to my boys.  And their father's dislike of getting pictures taken was passed down too.  Double whammy.

Finally we saw Santa walking down the long hallway.  And much to my disgust he was wearing a USU Aggie Football Jersey instead of his big red coat.  What in the world?  Now I am an Aggie fan like the rest of the town but I did not want Santa wearing one for the pictures.  My dreams of a great photo really went out the window.  And if it were any place but the small, local mall I would have complained!

Carter was actually really nervous to see Santa.  I pushed him towards Santa and he said "Let Jackson go first."  But with another gentle push and reassurance he jumped right up onto Santa's (or deranged Aggie Fan) lap.

 Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas and he told him a "Bucky Pirate Ship."  Phew!  Santa asked if there was anything else and he just said "And some other things."  That will be easy to take care of!

Finally a decent shot, although Carter is looking to the side of the camera and not me.

Now Jackson's turn.  I knew it would be ugly.  I knew it would get loud.  I knew my time was limited.

Jackson screamed bloody murder and tried his hardest to escape this stranger.  He has an extreme fear of strangers and crowded places these days.  Can you imagine how fun and successful nursery and the daycare at the gym have been!?!

Santa was a good sport though and smiled away as I snapped some pictures.  I didn't even try for a shot of the 4 of us together given the screaming baby and the weirdly dressed Santa.  I could get over the fact that his teeth and beard were the same color of weird yellow and that he was missing more teeth than I imagined Santa should be.....but the Aggie jersey was the biggest disappointment!

I can tell that Jackson and Carter are of the same mold as I look at this picture of Carter.  Taken at 18 months old as well.  He wasn't a fan of Santa either!

And look at this woman dressed up as Santa.  Come on Cache Valley Mall, surely there is someone better out there!

Dec 2011-Same Santa as this year.  The yellow beard and hair were a dead give away.  Although I didn't notice them when he's wearing the right clothing!

                                      
2010.  The 4 of us.  Jax is hiding.
I like comparing our photos of Santa year after year.  One year we will get a great one.  One great enough to use as a Christmas Card.  Until then, no Christmas cards!

November til Now

 November was a busy month.  So many things happening.

 Simon, our Elf on the Shelf showed up.  Carter is obsessed with him.  The first day he arrived Carter came screeching into our room first thing that morning and yelled "I have the best news!  Simon is finally here!"  Carter is very good about not touching the magic elf but kept waving his Christmas List in front of him so he'd be sure to tell Santa everything on his list.

The second day Simon brought matching Pajamas for the boys.  Carter is really taking this Elf thing seriously this year.  He is quick to do nice things for us and then asks "Did Simon see me do that?!"  He does not however, ask that when he's done something not so nice.  I guess he figures Simon misses those things!
 
Early November brought a new house for our family.  We packed and moved 7 miles up the road to Smithfield!  And we love it up here.  The best part of the move is the beautiful views we have of the valley.
                                       

                                         Sunsets are the best.
With the colder weather, we've been spending more time inside.  Jackson and Carter already know how to make each other mad............

 Jackson dancing on Carter's game of Candy Land.  Made Carter so mad!  I don't know why he loved to do this but he loved it!  (Pants are overrated!)

 Carter playing with his Monster Trucks.  He's been obsessed with them since he went to the Derby in September with Neil.  I believe this trucks name is Bone Crusher.  He often asks me if we can't put Jackson in crib or high chair so he can play in peace.  He even nicknamed Jackson "The Beast."  And it's kind of stuck.  And a little fitting.

When the boys aren't fighting over toys they play kind of nicely together.  Carter loves to hide on the stairs and jump up and scare Jackson.  The problem is that Carter doesn't know how to play a little softer with Jax.  But we're working on it.

Carter kept begging to set up our Christmas decorations and after just moving and spending days unpacking, the last thing I wanted to do was set up decorations but I couldn't be a scrooge forever.  He was a great helper and has rearranged the tree for me several times!  Who knew that all the ornaments clumped together, about 3 feet high could look so good?!

                                    
He was very particular on what stocking holder each person got and insisted on hanging each one.  Christmas is so fun with a little boy who is so excited.  Even though Santa isn't going to bring him a train with a remote control.  How many trains can one house hold?

 Jackson is obsessed with books.  He is great to read to himself but really enjoys being read to.  Books was one of his first words.

 He will let anyone read a book to him and soon to be Uncle George got the pleasure of reading to him one night.

                                       
 The boys love being outside and never feel how cold it is.  We like to go on family walks to the mailbox at the end of the subdivision at night.

My little Eskimo   He would prefer to walk the entire way to the mailbox instead of riding in his stroller.  He could walk forever and never get tired.  Walk was another of his first words and one of his most frequently used words.  He doesn't like being contained or being held for very long.  Grocery shopping is more like a wrestling match which ends in screaming.  I sure hope he learns how to cry someday instead of just only screaming!

 Carter was/is excited with each snowfall to be able to do some shoveling.  This is not a chore to him, it is play.  I really wish he could shovel the driveway for us!  He came in this afternoon and told me "Don't worry mom, I saved some for dad."  He assumes that Neil thinks shoveling is a treat just like he does:)

Monday we invited the cousins and Grandma over for some Christmas tree decorating and sugar cookie decorating.  There was a lot of sugar consumed this evening and sprinkles everywhere!  I attempted a new VEGAN sugar cookie recipe and it was delicious!  Couldn't even tell a difference.  Sometimes I am really proud of my vegan cooking....

Carter with his Christmas Tree.

Carter actually quit eating this night on his own accord.  Rich frosting can even be enough for Carter I guess. Can't wait for Christmas.  Carter and I plan to make Santa our new sugar cookies and I am guessing he will eat the entire plate!
(Side note: this blue shirt Carter is wearing was a gift from his Grandma and it has a big monster truck on it.  He loves it and wants to wear it each day.  He even decided to name this shirt.  The name he chose is "I will crush you shirt."  The bad part is that Grandma got the wrong size and it is borderline too small.  I guess we can make it a lounge around the house shirt because I doubt he will ever let me get rid of it!)

Our not so Happy Halloween

It's almost Christmas and I still haven't blogged about Halloween.  I kept telling myself I'm too busy to blog about it but the truth is, Halloween wasn't so happy at our house this year.  It didn't bring warm fuzzies and I still look back at the pictures and feel sad.  If you are against depressing blog posts, please skip this one.  

Some pictures do make me smile though.  Like Carter dressed up in his cute Fireman costume.  He was so excited about Halloween and between a church party, preschool and actual Halloween, he got to wear his costume 3 times!  I had plans to dress the boys up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and we talked about his for months.  Then a friend gave Carter their son's hand-me-down toys and that included an old fireman costume.  So we reached a compromise and Carter agreed to wear the fireman costume to party and preschool and be Thing 1 for Halloween.  When it came time to put on his red one piece and spray his hair blue, he broke down and sobbed.  For some reason he was sooooo embarrassed to have painted hair and be Thing 1.  He wouldn't even come out of his room to let Neil look at him.  I tried every bribe in the world but they were just met with more sobbing.  I didn't want Carter's Halloween ruined so I let him be the fireman again.  And he was the cutest fireman I had ever seen.  (Truth be told, I remember being about 9 or 10 and being dressed up for Halloween and feeling so silly in my costume and wishing I were at home instead of out trick or treating.  Carter and I are a bit a like I guess...)

This picture pretty much sums up the rest of the evening.  Jax had a horrible stomachache and didn't feel well.  I dressed him up anyways and we headed out.

Traumatized ex-Thing 1 Carter and sick Jax didn't make for any good shots of them together.  And by this point, after many many tears and crying I was done trying.  

 His stomach ache subsided a bit after a while and he managed to be a bit happy while out trick or treating.

My 3 favorite boys.  Neil and I were actually going to dress up this year but after melt-down city 2012 earlier, it left no time.  

This is where the night got even harder, and sadder.  Jackson cannot have sugar.  And surprisingly at this young age he knew he was being left out and wanted candy.  I felt like Trick or Treating was a bit cruel because I take him out and he gets to watch everyone else eat and get candy.  And he gets nothing.  As he watched Carter unload his bag his whining turned to sobbing.  I finally felt so bad that I gave him a dum-dum.

 He was all smiles as he ate this tiny piece of candy.  Since he already had an upset stomach I didn't dare let him eat the whole sucker.  Once I took it away from him he sobbed and threw himself onto the floor over and over.  He cried for an hour straight.  I felt horrible.  I was angry, at the world.  At everyone who gets to Trick or Treat and not think anything of it.  I don't see this problem getting any better as he gets older either. Will he be alienated?  Will he come to hate Holidays?  I am torn between keeping a fair balance between my boys.  I was at the point that night to swear off Halloween forever.  But I can't do that to Carter.....I can't take away candy just because his brother can't have it.  I'm already brainstorming ideas for next Halloween on how to make it less traumatic for someone who can't eat candy.  I'm already dreading future Christmas', Easters, Valentines Day etc for the same reason.  I feel like I handle Jackson's condition with a little class most of the time but Halloween was really hard on me.  It reminds me of how much Short Gut has taken from us, and will continue to take.  I wasn't kidding when I said this post was depressing eh?!

 After I finally got Jackson to bed we let Carter go through his stash and he was in heaven.  Amazingly about 90% of his candy was "Carter Safe" and that left very few pieces for Neil and I to steal:(  Here's to a happier Next Halloween!

A few days earlier we celebrated my 3?st birthday(a lady never reveals her true age!).  And once again we ate sugar and treats in front of poor Jackson.  I'm really trying my hardest to come up with something that kind of resembles cake/sweets.  At least with Carter, even if he can't have exactly what others are having we can come pretty close or give him something sweet, but not Jax.  A steak and potato don't really come close to cake and ice cream.  It was fun to celebrate with my little family and watch how excited Carter got about everything.  He was very sweet to pick out a birthday present for me, all by himself.  Usually he wants to buy something for the birthday person that he enjoys..aka cars, trucks, skittles, etc.  But this year he picked out 2 big boxes of Hot Tamales for me.  For some reason he thinks they are my favorite(I like them but they aren't' my fav).  The biggest thing is that he does not like them so it truly was a thoughtful gift from him.  Each morning when he came into my room he'd grab the boxes off my dresser and ask "Mom don't you want some tamales right now?  I bought them for you because I love you!"  And so with my morning breath I would eat a few tamales at 7 am!  What a sweet boy he is!

Now to get caught up before Christmas is here and over!

Long Long Ago When I Went to Jamaica

I am way behind on posting about my fabulous trip but someone took awhile to send me her pictures, and then life got busy.  But back in September I spent a week in Jamaica with my best friend Kristen.  We had been planning a trip for a couple months and one day Jamaica just came to us.  We both had never been there, and we both loved the show "Cool Runnings" (kidding) so we decided to book a trip.  People always ask why I didn't go with Neil.  I would have loved to(not taking anything away from Kristen here) but having a child with special medical needs makes it hard to get away.  Only Neil and I know how to care for all his needs so both of us leaving the country is out of the question, at least for now.  Besides, Kristen is always up for an adventure and I think she would have preferred my company over Neil's!  

We left SLC at midnight on a Thursday night.  We flew to Charlotte and arrived about 3 am SL time.  I sure hoped to be able to sleep on the plane and again in the airport but then I remembered that I can't sleep anywhere except a bed.  

Once we got to Charlotte we discovered that we were VERY undressed for the temperature of the airport lobby.  We both had shorts on with long sleeves.  I had randomly thrown one of Jackson's blankets in my backpack and Kristen had a pair of wool socks in her bag.  We pulled them out and tried to warm up.  I actually managed to catch a few minutes of sleep on the floor of the Charlotte airport.  Classy, but true.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 We spent about 5 hours in the Charlotte airport and then finally we were on our way to Jamaica.  Once again, I couldn't fall asleep on the plane.
Once we finally landed in Jamaica we no longer needed our 2 jackets, blankets and socks.  It was beautiful there!  The airport was tiny and a bit trashy but we found a very willing taxi driver to take us 90 minutes up the coast to our hotel.

I don't have any pictures of us in the taxi for very good reasons.  The driving in Jamaica is bad enough to make a grown woman cry.  You pass on hills and curves, you go as fast as possible, and you tailgate like it's nobody's business.  When you are ready to pass someone on a hill, going 65 mph, you just give a honk with your horn and swerve around.  Luckily, if someone is coming, they are nice enough to pull to the shoulder to let you by.  There were times I had to stop looking.  I decided to enjoy the beautiful scenery instead of the atrocious driving.

Kristen and I really did our homework before this trip.  We both ordered a thick book all about Jamaica.  One thing it said was to be sure and sample all the wonderful, local fruit.  We passed several roadside fruit stands and so we asked our driver to pull over so we could buy some local fruit.

 There were lots of little stands like this one off the busy, busy highway.  Our driver just pulled over, yelled to the owners and then their young child walked across the busy highway to deliver our fruit.

Here is Kristen holding our first Jamaican experience.  Naseberries.  We were told that they were similar to a peach.  Wrong.  They were not good.  In fact, we didn't enjoy any of the local fruit.  The names and looks of them were great but very, very different tasting from American fruit.  But you have to give us credit, we tried every kind available.  Some kinds we tried were naseberry, jackfruit, ackee,guinep, passion fruit, soursop, and star apple.  We arrived at our beautiful hotel about 1:30 local time.

Here is the view from our hotel balcony.  We flew into Montego Bay, Jamaica but our resort was 2 hours away in Ocho Rio.  The first thing I noticed about Jamaica was their wonderful accents.  And yes, they really do say, "No problem maan."  In fact, they say it all the time.  I found it a little weird that they even said it to girls but I eventually got use to it.  Their accents were great and completely understandable.  Until they talked from one Jamaican to another.  Then they used their own dialect and we couldn't understand a word they said.  It did not sound one thing like English, even though technically it was.

Now onto the Jamaican food.  I ate my fair share.  And bless Kristen's heart for keeping up with me.  When we went, Kristen was about 11 weeks pregnant.  Luckily her morning sickness didn't really keep her down and she was able to handle the change in food.

 Here is some traditional Jamaican Jerk chicken.  It was quite delicious.  There are 2 different kinds of sauces, one very sweet and one quite spicy.  I could tolerate a little of both.  The Jerk Pork was my favorite however.  All the food was buffet style and it was good.  It did get old after a week of eating buffet style food but it was good nonetheless.

Here is a view of our modest room.  2 beds, a TV and a bathroom.  What more could we need?

A view from the resort.  We were steps away from the ocean and it was beautiful.  September is suppose to be their rainy season but we got lucky and it only rained the morning we left, for about 20 minutes.

Our first excursion away from the resort was to the famous Dunn River Falls.  It was so much fun and a great experience.  It is their most popular tourist destination.  Let me just say though that what we did would never be allowed in the United States.  We climbed natural waterfalls, with no safety gear, and without signing a waiver!
                                     
Right before we left on our climb!  I obviously had gotten a taste of the Jamaican sun the day before.

                                           
This is a picture of part of the falls that we climbed.  It was never super steep or seemed dangerous at all.  We had 2 guides who told us exactly where to step and it was a blast.

Our first time getting in the actual falls.  It wasn't cold but it certainly wasn't as warm as the Caribbean Ocean.  It actually felt nice in the warm weather.

 Self portrait.  Kristen and I were first in our group which made me nervous at first but it all worked out.

 Kristen relaxing in one of the areas.  The guides were very insistent on taking pictures for you and making sure you got pictures.

 Kristen and I doing our "I love Jamaica" chant.  The guides were also videotaping us (to later try and sell) and so they always wanted us to dance and sing.  You all know how much I love singing and dancing, especially on camera (NOT).  Kristen looks like she's done her fair share of Karaoke....

 Here is the rest of our group climbing.  We were with mostly American tourists.  Which was fun because it seemed like we were some of the very few Americans at the resort.  There were tons of British people and Portuguese people but I ran into very few Americans.

 These were our awesome tour guides.  They went barefoot up the falls and you could tell that they probably rarely wore shoes, by the looks of their gnarled feet.  They were very lively and made sure to let us know that they expected a tip.

As we left the falls we tried to steer clear of the groups of people selling souvenirs.  We purposely didn't bring any cash.  Then I saw this nice old man with a decorated donkey who asked if I wanted my picture taken with her.

I said sure.  Then Kristen reminded me that he expects a tip to get a picture with his donkey.  Oops.  We had no cash.  I vowed to remember that people who want you to take pictures, want money.

And here's Kristen with the beautiful donkey.  We were using our waterproof camera still so we have some waterspots and such.

 Remember how I vowed to not forget about the picture taking=tip money?  Well I forgot once again.

At our next excursion a fire breathing man came right up next to me and told Kristen to take a picture.  I didn't really want to be close to this man but didn't want to be rude.  Kristen told him we didn't have any money and he was disappointed but still allowed a picture.

Our next excursion was bamboo rafting down the White River.  This was a very mellow ride but still fun.  How many times do you get a ride down a beautiful river on a man made 50 ft bamboo raft?

Kristen and I enjoying the scenery.

 Here is our guide Jack guiding us down the river.  It was such a smooth ride and the raft never got stuck.

The other days were spent relaxing at the resort.  There were a couple of pools and of course the ocean. 

The Caribbean Ocean is wonderful.  The perfect temperature and very calm.

We enjoyed a lot of eating, cold drinks, swimming, reading, and paddle boating.

 A view from the boat!

 I even did a little snorkeling although there wasn't much to see where I was at.

                                               

 We both managed to read some good books and take naps by the pool or beach.

Evenings brought dinner and reading in the lobby while skyping with our families.  Thank heavens for the internet! After dinner we would head back to our room and usually be in bed before 10:00.  The best part of the trip-all the sleeping we were able to catch up on!

 More traditional Jamaican food.  There were several restaurants to choose from and some were suppose to be fancier than others, but truthfully they had a lot of the same foods and all had a similar taste!

 Our last morning in Jamaica.  This picture just shows the humidity in the air.  It was extra thick this morning after the short rain storm.

On our way to the airport we were about 1 inch from rear ending another car.  Luckily our driver managed to swerve at the last second.  I will be fine never riding in a car in Jamaica again.

 We had a great trip but we were both ready to be home and to eat American food.  I was so ready for American food that I bought a butterfinger in the airport.  It was a bit stale but still satisfied my craving for candy!

 Goodbye Jamaica!  It was a beautiful country with very nice people.  The Jamaican people are very laid back and very welcoming.  One thing to know about Jamaica is that there are no problems in Jamaica.  Only situations!  Thanks for going with me Kristen and being the perfect travel companion.  I'm thinking the Dominican Republic in about 2 years, when baby Petersen is a bit older!