a LOOOONG tale

Well a lot has probably happened since my last update but I lost my camera and so I don't have a lot of pictures of what happened so I can't really remember what happened so below will be my review of things that I remember in no particular order.

Tucker lost his two front top teeth before Christmas. This seemed to be the theme for many kids this season with lots of parent hoping for them to fall out before Christmas so their kids could sing the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song. He let Bryant pull the first one out. Bryant tied a piece of floss around it and yanked and the tooth went flying. Tucker then put it under his pillow quickly so that the tooth fairy could come. Bryant and I were both so surprised by this because all of our children know that Santa is not real so Tucker's belief in the tooth fairy was a bit of a shocker. Apparently, this belief stemmed from getting his two bottom front pulled and then finding two quarters under his pillow the next morning. He was skeptical at first but as a result of the finding the money he firmly believes in the tooth fairy so Bryant and I have played the part with his two top front teeth. I rationalize this because I've heard that make believe is important for kids and the tooth fairy does nothing to detract from Christ. So for now he gets to believe.

I rearranged all the bedrooms. Hunter has continuously reminded me that he has NEVER had his own bedroom. He has always had to share, except when he was a baby which doesn't count because he can't remember it and Tucker and Brylee have both had their own rooms since then. So I rearranged so that Hunter could have his own room. Now Tucker and Hunter each have their own room, where they are responsible for everything in their room and keeping it clean themselves, and the three youngest are in a room altogether. This was made possible because someone in my ward happened to have an extra twin mattress that she was getting rid of when I asked on our ward's facebook page. It was rather quite remarkable. Hunter has learned that it is hard to keep a room clean especially when he has to clean it himself because the mess is the result of only him. It has also helped him willingly part with a lot of his papers and some of his cardboard because it was easier to just throw them away then to get everything to fit on his bookshelf.

We had Thanksgiving all by ourselves this year. We did not receive any invitations to join anyone else and when I called to invite my grandmother that was alone this year she was already heading to her son's house for the holiday. It was strange to just have us but also nice. I purchased a bone-in turkey breast that was small enough to fit in our pressure cooker so the turkey was cooked in only 45 min (and that was probably a little long)! We enjoyed using our oven to make rolls and cook pies before our feast. It was rather wonderful. I then introduced my family to the King tradition of playing games all day! We played multiple rounds of Skip-Bo, Cars Monopoly, and lots of Uno. We started a game of battleship but didn't finish and we did puzzles on the floor. I had originally planned on shopping for some new clothes at JCPenny on Thanksgiving day because they were giving away free $10 gift certificates off a purchase of $10 or more on Thanksgiving and because last year our Thanksgiving felt so lonely that I figured I would desire something to fill the day with. Well, we had such a lovely time this year that when 5 o'clock (or was it 6 o'clock, I can't remember) rolled around I didn't want to wake Bryant up from his Thanksgiving nap or interrupt the fun I was having with the children. Eventually, Bryant rolled out of bed and we decided to drive to the store separately just to get the gift certificates for me to use later. Neither of us ended up with the $100 certificate but having $30 to spend the next day was nice either way.

Black Friday I went out with the children to use our free cash, otherwise it would have expired. JCPenny was rather packed! Thankfully, I didn't need a new wardrobe anymore because I have received several new shirts and two pairs of pants from various people in the ward that were getting rid of clothes. So I used the money to get some new snow gloves and a couple of new undershirts. We then went to Sears because I had $10 off of $35 to spend if there was anything there that I wanted to get. I looked for new winter coats for Tucker and Hunter and found a steal of a deal. I got both of their $65 jackets for $17 each!! I was amazed and thankful. And then at the checkout I was asked if I wanted to apply for their credit card and receive an additional $10 off my purchase. I decided it was worth the time to apply and receive the additional savings. Sears was also hardly busy at all which was just what I needed with 5 small children!

We went to the zoo in November (which is where I think I must have lost my camera) The Hogle zoo has one free day each winter month so we might go again in January :) This was Gunnar's first time at the zoo and he LOVED it! He loved looking through the fences and seeing the zebras and giraffes especially. I loved that we could talk about how he had seen the various animals for real after the fact as we see them in books. I took all 5 kids by myself and only lost 3 of the 5 children each once and 1 of them thought he was lost although I knew where he was. Tucker got lost at the Elephant area. We had to turn around and go down a ramp with the stroller but Tucker kept walking forward. Thankfully, he did not leave the elephant area. He also didn't realize he was lost until after he had looked at all the carious displays of things there were to touch. We lost Brylee at the lion enclosure but not for very long at all. Gunnar got lost at the Sea lion/seal exhibit because when I announced that we were moving from the outside to the inside of the exhibit I had to turn around and take the long way around to the doors and Gunnar didn't see me turn around and he took the stairs. This was a little nerve wracking for me because he is much younger and can't be expected to stay in any given area. I also had to 'leave' the area to head down the path to check the rest of the exhibit and I didn't like the idea of leaving the area in case he realized he was lost and retraced his steps. Well it turned out that he entered the inside exhibit area and was still there by the time we made it. Finally, while inside this exhibit Hunter thought he was lost and blames me for 'moving' despite the fact that I had remained in the exact same place. It is for these exact reasons that I look forward to the day that we own a vehicle with more seats than fits our family. I would love to have other moms with their children join us for these types of excursions if for no other reason than the extra set of eyes helps keep track of all the children. Despite these disappearances I am planning on taking all the children again on the free day in January, assuming the weather is beautiful again.

I got to travel to Arizona to see my youngest sister Natalie perform in her schools dance concert. Because she is on the school dance team and is a senior she performed a solo. Something I always wanted to do when I was dancing but never got the chance to do. The plan was for me to fly to Arizona Thursday afternoon, see her perform in the evening and fly back Friday afternoon to celebrate Bryant's birthday with the family. Well, I flew with Allegiant and there is only one flight out of Provo to Arizona each day. For whatever reason the plane coming into Provo was running an hour late, then after they finished deboarding, we were not permitted to board because the airplane was having some computer trouble. It got to the point that either the plane was fixed in the next 15 minutes or we would be waiting for our rescue plane to arrive from Mesa with an expected departure time of 6:00. This would have made me land in Mesa at 7:30, 30 minutes after Natalie's performance started! I was so frustrated and tired that I had to fight back tears at the airport because this was NOT supposed to happen! I was supposed to be able to see Natalie perform and celebrate Bryant's birthday! I learned that Allegiant would not do anything to compensate me for this 'delay' until they hit the 5 hour delay marker. The airline ordered pizza to feed all of us and brought out soda and water for us. Well shortly after getting our drinks we were informed that the plane had successfully rebooted and we could leave on this aircraft with its crew if we could all be boarded and taxing down the runway in 15 minutes! They let us board from the front and back of the plane and everyone hurried their little bums. The stewards so lovingly gave us a reminder to load quickly with a countdown of how much time remained every couple of minutes. Amazingly, we made it! I almost wish every flight came with the threat to be left behind if you did not cooperate with a fast boarding procedure. It was rather refreshing :) I landed just after 6. Connor did amazing with everything and watching Natalie perform was a pleasure.

Bryant celebrated his 31st birthday. We went to an outdoor shopping mall for their 'lighting' ceremony. The whole strip mall was lit with Christmas lights, there was someone making an ice sculpture, horse drawn carriages, and Santa. We ate dinner at Tucanos, an all you can eat Brazilian buffet. It was delicious and the weather was mild. It was a great evening together!

I celebrated my 29th birthday two weeks later. Bryant surprised me with a small hunt around the house to find my gift. He got me a FedEx hoodie to wear! I loved having the adventure to find my gift and I love my hoodie. Bryant had to promise his boss that he would never wear it while driving for FedEx because the hoodie is specifically meant for handlers not drivers. The drivers have a different style but Bryant thought I would like this one best and I do! Just the other week I took Bryant his lunch at work while wearing this hoodie and I tricked him and another worker. Kennedy (the handler working with Bryant) thought I was just someone else coming to help out that day as I lifted the gate connected to Bryant's truck and even Bryant's first thought upon seeing me was that I wasn't dressed all the way in uniform. They both chuckled as they realized who I was.

Brylee celebrated her 4th birthday. It is crazy to think that Brylee is now 4! Thankfully, I had gotten Brylee's birthday stuff months ago because I almost spaced her birthday. I was busy getting everything done for Christmas that her birthday crept up on me. She had a snowman cake for her birthday decorated by her and Bryant while I was visiting teaching someone. She loved the  doll bed and tea set she received both given to me by old friends :) She is supposed to get a birthday party this year because that has been the tradition and she has really been looking forward to it all year. Most of her friends were gone during the holidays so I need to get one planned and put on for her soon!

Peak at FedEx this year was not horrendous! Last year we rarely got to see Bryant in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. This year they had so many employees that Bryant didn't have to go into work early except on Mondays like he had already been doing and he got to come home at the normal time instead of after 8 each night. It was marvelous. This change did mean that we didn't make a ton of extra money in December but I gladly take the normal income and presence of Bryant over the extra money any day! Bryant is trying to convince his boss to turn his route into a 4/10 route, meaning he would work 10 hours 4 days a week and get an extra day off during the week plus Saturday. This would be truly lovely because he is working almost 10 hours a day right now anyway but 5 days a week. So it would mean less money for us but more time with him, which if you didn't catch earlier would be heavenly!

We have paid off all of my student loans!! and are in the process of getting all of Bryant's paid off. We only have $12,000 more to go and then I hope to purchase a 12 passenger van. Bryant has slowly come to like the idea of the Nissan NV. I mainly like this van over the others because the seatbelts are attached to the benches and not the ceiling of the van so there is nothing to trip over as you move to back rows which is super important to me with lots of kids and carseats. Bryant's only concern is that it is rear wheel drive without AWD options and he worries about me driving it. My only concern is that it is SO HIDEOUS! I'm not kidding, it is probably the ugliest van out there. We still have to test drive one to make sure we like how it drives before we know for sure. I hope to be able to purchase our van this fall when we come to visit Mesa again because there are lots of dealerships close that we can pin against each other while here there is only one dealership in all of Utah!!!!

My children are ready for me to be done so this will have to suffice for now. Christmas and New Years posts will have to wait.


P.S. Michelle this post was for you. Thanks for the extra post this week. I love reading about everyone!