So the day after a quiet family Christmas at home, we packed up and headed to California for a visit.  We saw Erik's family during the summer at Brian Head, and we saw most of them in October for Emmett's blessing, but we hadn't actually been to California since February!  Even though the trip was long overdue, I was still dreading the drive.  Owen is not the greatest in the car (at least he wasn't 10 months ago) and I had no idea what to expect out of Em.  Erik, however, is phenomenal, and drives through the night.  So we left our home at 4:00 in the afternoon and got to Fullerton almost exactly 10 hours later.  I was so impressed with how well the drive went.  There was whining, crying, maybe even a bit of screaming, and a vomit incident.  But how could there not be in 10 hours?!  Overall, everyone did so so great.

Owen got really sick one evening, out of nowhere really.  It hit him fast and hard.  Right in time for cousin Tyler's baptism.  I was just finishing up feeding the baby while Erik loaded the boys into the car to head to the church.  We could tell that O wasn't at his best, and as I was about to walk out the door, Erik was walking back in with Owen in his arms, both of them covered in barf.  Erik and Sam still barely made it on time to the baptism while Emmett and I stayed back to tend to O.  He got a high fever and barfed three more times before crashing for the night.  He woke up in the morning still burning hot and not happy.  Owen fell asleep on the sofa at 9 (crazy!!!) so we moved him to bed where he slept for almost 3 hours.  He woke up much better, and was almost entirely better by the afternoon . . . just in time for Medieval Times!!!!!

So Santa brought us tickets to go to Medieval Times while we were in California.  I was so so excited for it.  I thought the boys would love it, too.  And they were pretty excited, too . . . at first . . . then the actual show started, booming loud, dark and spooky.  Owen covered his ears and hid his face, Samuel covered his ears and whimpered he didn't like it and wanted to leave.  Erik and I were exchanging glances and I seriously was about to cry because it was all my idea and no one was happy and I felt like such an idiot.  Then the fog cleared, the lights came on, we got our chicken, the horses came out, and all was good.  The boys LOOOOOOVED it!!  We cheered and waved our banner for the Yellow Knight.  Our seats were awesome, first row and up higher in the corner of the ring, so the horses noses were right at our table height.  When the Yellow Knight came to throw flowers, the boys were pointing to me, Sam was shouting, "Give one to my mom!!" and I might have been waving for one, too.  The knight looked me right in the eye, smiled, and shook his head no!!!!!!  Ouch!  But still the night was so awesome, without a single picture to prove it.  But lots of memories.  The boys are still playing knights, dueling, riding their horses, and chanting, "Yellow Knight, Yellow Knight!"

While we were there we also spent lots of time with family and cousins.  You'd think the boys might have overloaded, but they really couldn't get enough.  Especially Samuel.  Nevermind that they played hard all day every day and stayed up till almost 10 every night, they were still banging down the doors by 6:30 am.  We got to spend lots of time outside, exploring the never ending adventures in Grandpa B's jungle, going on hikes, and visiting parks.

Seriously, isn't he the cutest?!

Ok, well these two are pretty cute, too, I guess.

So once again it was a really great trip to California.  Usually, I'm ready to head home by the end.  But this time I felt like I wanted to stay longer.  I was not ready to leave, and I even tried to talk Erik into the idea of us staying for another day.  The boys were sad to go, too, but that just means we will be that much more excited to go back again! 

The two days before Christmas Eve, Erik had spent them working in St. George.  He come Friday night, then had to leave Christmas Eve morning at 5:30 am to work in Salt Lake.  The poor guy finally made it back that evening at about 6.  The boys and I all missed him, and were ready for Daddy to be home!! 

We had a big yummy Christmas Eve dinner, with our "guests" (that's what Sam kept calling them, all day, "When will our guests be here?!") Auntie C and Alex, and John and Guin.  Caroline helped me a ton with the dinner.  Samuel was ridiculously excited for the big turkey.  Ever since the day I brought it home, he asked over and over when we would eat it.  Owen enjoyed the bread.  We were distracted during dinner, and didn't notice it until he had a pile of about 7 slices of bread, all with the middle eaten out, and flour all over his face.  We all laughed because we thought it was so funny and cute, and that made O very embarrassed. 

John and Guin were so sweet to bring some presents for the boys.  Samuel got his very first Nerf gun.  Oh boy.  And Owen got his own Mater that he doesn't have to fight Sam for!  Then there were the obligatory Christmas Eve jammies.  And right before bed, we opened one last present, a star for the top of our tree. 

Samuel and Owen went to bed late, and then the little elves had to get busy preparing for Santa's arrival.  It ended up being a rough night, one of Emmett's worst, but we got through it, and after about 4 hours of sleep for us, it was Christmas morning!  We sent Daddy ahead to make sure Santa had come.  Oh had he!!  He left an almost empty bottle of cream soda and a bag of clementines that Rudolph had eaten one of, with a note telling the boys that it had been a tough call, but he decided to put everyone on the nice list this year.  Phew!  So we opened stockings and presents, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, ate way too much junk, and played in our jammies the rest of the day.

1: I am the only SAHM who lives in Utah County and doesn't know how to use a fancy camera. Or Photoshop.

2: Emmett can't sit on his own.

3: Owen can't sit still.

4: Samuel can't smile without looking like he's in pain.

And thusly, 5: It is impossible to get three children looking decent in one picture.

It sure was an adventure trying, though!

We almost might have gone with one of these, but that leads me to number 6: I'm too lazy.

Merry Christmas from the Briggs!

December was a hard month.  Not bad.  But hard.  I was having a rough time, Emmett was really having a rough time, Erik had a ton of work and several big projects, and whiney whine whine, poor me, this that and the other.  The month blasted by.  I just couldn't commit to one of the darling activity a day advents floating around Pinterest that everyone and their mom was doing.  I'm just not that cool, I guess.  But we were still able to do a few Christmas-y things to make the season memorable and special.  So here is that stuff, interspersed with everything else that did (or didn't) happen in December. 

Sometimes this one is cute . . . sometimes . . . so it does us well to remember when.

These two are cute, too.  Especially when one of them isn't screaming in pain, not eating, or not sleeping.  I don't mean Erik.

We had spent way too many days in the house doing nothing.  So one morning when I heard The Sweet Tooth Fairy would give a free cookie to the first 5 people into their shop who sang, "If all the raindrops were cupcakes and cakebites, oh what a rain that would be, I'd go outside with my mouth open wide, singing AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AAAAH" I packed the boys into the car and off we went.  Sam willingly and eagerly did the singing.  We got a cookie and the cute gal who was smitten by my boys gave them each a sucker, too.  Soooo that's why O is eating a sucker in this picture.  I don't usually just let them have candy.  I also don't usually comb their hair.  Obviously.  And that was a lot of explanation for 2 pictures of my boys doting on their baby brother.

That same day, at lunch time, these two were holding hands.  I have no idea why.  Owen rarely let's Sam hold his hand, and it makes Sam kind of sad.  So I thought this was really cute.  Especially since O ate a lot of his lunch that way, reaching over himself with his right hand.

Also at lunch time, Owen was riding the elevator up and down.  "Going up, beep, zoooom, going down, beep, zoooom," while he stood up and sat down.  Weirdo.  Sam had a box elder bug that he wanted to adopt as a pet.  Double weirdo.  He put it in the bin, gave it some grass and a twig, and named it Samuel, to which I interjected that that wasn't very original, so he said, "Ok, I'll name him Monster Truck."  Sam didn't let that thing out of his sight all day.  I had to do some serious convincing so Sam wouldn't take it to school with him.  Later that night, Monster Truck met his demise.  I'm thinking it had to do with the apple juice the boys tried to give him.  I noticed before Sam, and was so close to finding another box elder and switching them out.  We are just not pet people.

One night Erik was either working late or at a church meeting, I can't remember now.  I wanted to sit my fat butt on the sofa, which I did, but the boys weren't super excited about that, so I got out the Christmas tree ornaments and let them have at it.  They both got really into it.  Owen was frustrated at first because he couldn't figure out how to hang any of them.  But he realized he could put the hooks through a bell ornament.  So that's what he did.  I counted and he had hung 18 ornaments from that bell.

For FHE one night, we talked about building a strong foundation on the rock of our Redeemer.  We sang the wise man and the foolish man, read Helaman 5:12, and then built a gingerbread house.  It did not have a strong foundation.  It lasted about 30 minutes before it collapsed.  But the boys loved every second of it.  Especially our sugar fiend, Owen J, who was more interested in putting the candy in his mouth than on the house.

On Samuel's last school day before winter break, he got to bring gifts for a present exchange.  He picked out little yo-yos, and wrapped each one himself.  He was very proud of his work, and so eager to give them to his friends.  When he came home with lots of fun little gifts, I was very impressed with how willing he was to show and share with Owen.

We visited the Festival of Lights again in Spanish Fork.  The boys loved it.  Em slept through it.  No pictures, but I think two years in a row officially makes it a tradition. 

We did do one advent, these chocolate calendars.  I just happened to come across them at the party store back in November and knew I HAD to get them.  I remember doing these so many times as a kid.  The first day it was this intense wave of nostalgia when I got a whiff of those waxy chocolates.  So fun for me.  And the boys had a lot of fun with it, too.

Sam also had a countdown paper chain he made at school, and he loved taking a new one off each day of December.  And we had a really low-key mini advent paper chain with "activities" like find a picture of Jesus in your house, read a story from the Friend, be extra nice to someone in your family, tell someone a story about Jesus, stuff like that.  Samuel told Emmett the story of Jesus being born . . . "It was in a stable in Bethlehem, the shepherds came and there was a new star, and theeeeeen THE KING GOT REALLY MAD AND THE SOLDIERS KILLED ALL THE BABIES AND PEOPLE SCREAMED AH AH AH, AND EVERYONE DIED!!!!!!  And that's the end."  Yeah, I do not recommend the Living Scriptures Nativity video.  Horrible, awful, terrible, and a million other complaints.  If you want to hear a good rant, ask me about it sometime.  Anyway, I digress . . . There is our December, crazy, long, a bit tough, and yet pretty uneventful. 

Coming up next on my poor neglected blog: Our quiet, simple, wonderful Christmas at home. 

Warmest wishes to you and yours, from us and ours.

The boys don't care that it's cold and 15 degrees outside.  They definitely don't care that it's snowing.  They want out.  And they really like their mittens.  So I say, good riddance, and warn them that no one is allowed back in if they're crying or whining about being cold or wet.  And they never are.  They did find a good place to "protect us and give us shelter."  Sam is always the first one to come in, and if Owen didn't always need a buddy out there, he would stay outside all day.

I seriously love these monkeys.  And they love each other, too.  That might be the best part. 

I've been promising the boys a big leaf pile for a while.  But usually it's hard for me to get outside to do that with the baby.  So the other afternoon I sent them out to the backyard while I put Emmett down.  I sat and watched Samuel and Owen from the window for a few minutes and decided instead of doing the dishes I would go out and play with them.  When I walked out, Sam exclaimed, "Hey look, it's Mom!" and Owen laughed, "Mommy, what are you doing out here?!"  We played until it was cold and dark, and came back inside covered from head to toe in leaves and dirt.   

I cannot get over the cuteness of this chubby lovey.  Em will hang out in his bouncer, sinking lower and lower, while his feet kick higher and higher.  After a bit he will quiet down and zone out.  But as soon as I peek over at him, he gets a humungo fat faced grin and starts bouncing again.  Lovey love love.

(Clearly I need to work on my focusing skills.  And my picture taking skills in general, but whatever.) 

November 21, 2011

Samuel has been doing lots of Thanksgiving stuff at school this month.  To celebrate all they had learned and prepared, the kids had a special feast on their last day of school before the break.  Everyone got to bring his or her own snack or treat to share.  Without a moment of hesitation, Samuel knew the day he brought home his November calendar that he wanted to bring chips and guacamole.  We bought the avocados on the Friday before, and I cannot even tell you how many times between then and Monday afternoon Samuel asked if it was time to make the guacamole yet.  What a goof!