One Last Look...

December was a crazy month, as can be expected.  But again, like every month, there is so much that happens than what is capture in the big posts.  And it's basically all captured on our iPhones.  So we're going to take one last look at the last month of 2013, and all the little moments that we don't want to forget.

Luke LOVES his baths!  He only gets to take one a week in the bathtub, other than that he still gets sponge baths. His dressing over his broviac has to stay dry, so we let him get it nice and wet right before his weekly dressing change.  I wish I could let him have a bath every night.

Early in December, Luke got a little stomach bug.  We had gone to his weekly physical therapy appointment, and he did great!  Then, right as we're pulling into Costco, he pukes all over the place!  I ran into the store to do our shopping as quickly as I could, and added a new outfit to the cart for Luke.  Danny got him cleaned up the best he could with what we had available and stayed in the car, with the heat on full-blast, of course.  Our Luke has thrown up WAY too much in his short life.

And more Luke! :)  We take a lot of pictures of Luke.  We still cherish all the little things he does, and I think we will for a very long time.  He's getting so big, and is no longer content to watch the kids play.  He wants to do what they're doing!  

This needs no caption.  Peas in a pod. :)

I just love my Lukey-Son!  I'm always the one behind the camera, so we took a quick selfie together.  I'm loving having him home with me all the time!  I gave up so much time with Luke when he was in the hospital to provide some stability for the older kids and keep the house running.  I worried so much that he would never bond with me.  Not a problem...he's my little buddy!

Like I said, Luke wants to be right in the fray with the rest of the kids.  It's right where he belongs, and everyone knows it. :)

Grandma and Papa have a soft spot for Luke.  If you ask me, they kind of miss that one-on-one time they used to have in the hospital with him!  They still take every chance they get to play with their little guy.

And lest anyone forget, we have other children besides Luke! :)  Johnny is still my main man, and he has been so patient with life over the last year.  Everything that has been happening with Luke has probably been the most stressful on John.  I love this boy.  He's the most like me of any of the children, and he needs me more than anyone else.  He's my John-Boy!

For Christmas gifts for teachers and doctors, Danny and I went all out and made Homemade Peppermint Marshmallow Hot Chocolate Sticks!  They turned out so good, and we've wanted to try making our own marshmallows for a long time.  We'll be doing this again next year, only maybe we'll eat them all ourselves! :)

December was an icy one this year.  After a storm one day, we had come by Grandma and Papa's house to visit for one reason or another.  We parked the Expedition in the driveway, and all seemed fine.  Until Danny went outside and noticed the Expedition had slid down the driveway!  It stopped only feet from the Dad's Suburban!  Yikes!

We thought a lot about our "family" on the ICS during the holiday season.  We reflected all month about our time there the year before.  We had to take something yummy to our wonderful nurses and techs!  Danny came up with the idea of chocolate dipped Oreos...half with crushed candy cane and the other with green frosting flourishes.  They turned out amazing!  We were the talk of the floor. ;)

Now, December was obviously a busy month.  And Luke wasn't feeling so great by the end of the month.  So I will forever kick myself that I didn't get a good picture of our kids in their new Christmas dresses and ties!  They looked amazing!  But Sophie looked so cute and grown up, even with her hair in curlers.  I don't know when my girls grew up!

It's hard to end the year like it started...with cancer.  But Luke ended the year with the first day of his radiation treatment for they myeloid sarcoma that popped up on his left shoulder.  We're feeling good that for now his bone marrow is free of disease, and this seems to be an isolated incident!  The radiation should take care of it with minimal side effect for Luke.  He's such an amazing boy.

That's it!  That's the Call Family History for 2013.  This has been a hard year for me to document.  I've been months and months behind on the blogging for most of the year.  Honestly, it's taken me until half way through 2014 to get it all finished.  But as I finish this up, I find myself oddly emotional.  Even when I was far enough behind that any sane person would have given up on the project, I couldn't let it go.  I had to document our life this year.  And looking back, I know it was because it is so easy to see the Lord's tender hand in our life.  Through all the trials our family has had, it has never been more apparent that there is someone at the helm.  A loving Heavenly Father and a supremely empathetic Savior.  I want to end this year's history with my firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I want my posterity to know that I knew it was true.  Every word of it.  I understand, in my own humble way, the purpose of this mortal life as a part of the Plan of Salvation.  I know that we are here to experience trials and afflictions, suffering and temptation...so that we can learn.  It is all an opportunity for us to rely on the Savior, to understand His place in the plan, and to humble ourselves to the point where we can be exalted in greatness and receive all the He has.  But with that all that suffering and hardship that we must endure, we are meant to know joy and happiness through living a righteous life.  And I feel in my heart that that is the purpose of this year's book.  That the world might see the joy that can be had, even in the midst of unfathomable trials, when you hold firm to the rod and rely on the Savior.  We are not perfect by any means.  But I truly feel like we've done the best we could.  And we have been blessed, over and over again, beyond what we could ever have imagined.

I love my Heavenly Father, and I am humbly grateful for the blessing it is to live as a righteous woman on the earth today.  I love Danny with a fierceness words cannot describe.  He is the greatest blessing I have been given in all of eternity, and I am excited to see our eternity continue.  My four children are amazing, strong spirits.  I know they are mine, and I know they were always meant to be mine if I managed to remain worthy of them.  I struggle to be the mother I want to be, but I would give the world to be with them.  Claire, Sophie, Johnny, and Luke...I love you completely and so much it physically hurts.

How grateful I am for this amazing year!  Because I know so much of what comes next, having already lived half of the next year, I know we're ready to do anything.

Bring it on. :)

New Year's Eve

As is evident, we had quite the Christmas!  So by the time New Year's Eve rolled around, everyone was thoroughly exhausted.  So while our usual New Year's Eve party at Grandma and Papa's happened, it was pretty low key.  And what's worse is that my camera died right as the party was starting!  So not a lot of picture this year. :(

This year was different in that Grandma was having the kids over for a sleepover.  The kids LOVE their sleepovers at Grandma's house!  I told them to start laying out their clothes to get packed, and before I could even get to Johnny's stuff he walked out of his room, ready to go!  I had to gently explain that he didn't need to take everything from his room.  It was only one night! :)

The party was wonderful...plenty of our favorite fattening foods to gorge ourselves on before we swear off anything unhealthy for the new year.  We let the kids play games and make their New Year's crowns that they always make with Grandma.  I am really loving all the traditions we are establishing!

We rang in the new year around 8:00 pm, so we could get everyone home and to bed on time.  We all popped the poppers and the kids made a huge mess with all the confetti.  I enjoyed my New Year's kiss from my sweetheart, and that was that.  

I can't believe the year we've had.  I can easily say that 2013 was the most incredible year I've lived through yet.  So many highs and so many lows and everything in between.  Our greatest blessing has been Luke.  Through sickness and health, through good news and bad news, this boy is always smiling.  And that's how we're going to end this crazy year.  With Lukey's amazing smile!  And we're going to move into the next year, and all it may bring, with the same faithful smile.

We know now that we can do anything!  Happy New Year!!

Christmas With Grandpa Richard And Grandma Ruth Ann

A by-product of coming from a divorced family is that holidays can stretch out a bit. :)  We planned the day after Christmas to be the day we spent some time with my Dad and Ruth Ann.  They came over just before lunch, heavy laden with even MORE presents for the kids!  It's seriously a bit ridiculous.  I love it. :)

We were very excited about giving Grandpa and Grandma their present.  We made them a photo book of all the fun times we'd had together over the year.  They absolutely loved it!

Nick met us for lunch, and brought Isabelle with him.  We were still lovin' on the smoker, so we made Smoked Spicy Honey Chicken with coconut rice and salad.  It was delicious!  We are really loving that smoker.

It was so nice of my Dad to drive all the way to our house, and to go to the trouble of getting so many fun gifts for the kids.  We feel fortunate to be so close to all our parents, so that we can continue to make these wonderful memories together.  That's what the holidays are all about!

Christmas With Grandma And Papa

After we said goodbye to my family, we took the kids back home for naps and some down time.  Plus, Danny and I had some meal prep to do!  Since we had the smoker, we volunteered to do the meat for Christmas dinner at Grandma and Papa's.  I really wanted to try chickens.  I had an image in my mind of beautifully golden whole chickens on a platter with all the garnishes.  Something akin to a traditional roasted chicken dinner, but smoked.  Rarely do my expectations become reality...but in this case, I couldn't find a single thing to be disappointed in!  The chicken turned out amazingly beautiful, and the platter was perfect!  I still sigh with contentment when I think about it. :)

On the menu with our amazing chicken was cornbread, green chile funeral potatoes, and a beautiful chocolate caramel mousse torte that Julie made.

She did a gorgeous job...and it was extremely rich and delicious!

Our kids have so much fun with their cousins.  And it's been a blast to watch these kids grow up together!  Everyone ate til they were stuffed...again...and we enjoyed talking about our respective Christmas mornings.  The time we take to just visit and be together as a family is my favorite part of the holidays.  Probably tied with the food. :) 

Then it was time for more presents, of course. :)  It was Papa and Grandma's turn!  For Papa, we put together a book of all the fun pictures from this year's BYU Football season for him to enjoy.  We wanted him to be able to see his legacy not only in his boys, but in his grandchildren as well.  He loved it!

And for Grandma we bought a beautiful Brighton necklace with the birthstones of her six children.  She loved it!  The granddaughters did, too. :)

Christmas was wonderful this year.  We had a perfectly exhausting day!  Once we were done with dinner, Danny and I could barely keep our eyes open anymore.  We took our happy children home, tucked them into bed, turned the lights out on the tree, and bid farewell to another Christmas.  As a child, I felt like Christmas took forever to come.  Now, I feel like I turn around and it's Christmas again!  But even though I feel like it comes faster and goes by faster, I'm appreciating it more and more.  

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas At Grandma Candy's

It's always a little tricky to come up with a gift for my Mom for Christmas.  But early in November, Jami and I started to have an idea.  What if we got Mom all new dishes?  We liked the idea.  So when I took one of my fun trips to Tai Pan, and noticed a huge sale on all their white dishes, I decided we needed to do it.  Jenny got on board, and I went shopping.  I had so much fun picked out these dishes!  We thought it would be beautiful to go all white.  But the beauty of it was that we picked all different kinds of dishes.  It would be an eclectic mix and match kind of thing.  That way, she can add to it without trying to match it.  And if a dish breaks, no problem!  Pick up another bowl or plate and voila!  All better!  As I was doing my shopping, I realized we had enough money to do 12 sets and still do nice glasses...and I found the perfect goblets!  After doing all the shopping (and this was well before Thanksgiving...how on top of things are we?), Jeff decided that if we were going to do new dishes, Mom needed new silverware too.  So Jeff and Jami added some beautiful silverware and the set was complete!  But we couldn't very well just hand her boxes of dishes.  No...where's the fun in that?!  Since Mom was at our house for Christmas Eve, Jenny and Jessie played the elves and set up Mom's table beautifully for the brunch we planned.  The brunch, of course, was planned specifically to have everyone there to give Mom her gift.  Jenny and Jessie did an amazing job with the table.  I couldn't believe how beautiful it was!  

We were so excited!  We made Mom wait in the garage until everything was ready, and then we told her she could walk into the house.  She was so surprised!  She couldn't believe how beautiful everything looked!

I love it when a gift is just perfect, and you get that reaction you were hoping for!  Our brunch was all ready to go, so I started to get the kids assembled so we could eat.  But then Jenny said she needed all of us to turn around, that there was one more big surprise.  I had absolutely NO idea what she could possibly be talking about!  So we all turned around and waited until Jenny said to look.  And lo and behold...it was Nick!  My brother had flown in from Boston the night before to surprise my Mom!  Way to totally trump the dishes, Nick. :)  

Well, once everyone had calmed down, we decided that it was definitely time to eat.   We had two different types of delicious breakfast casseroles, overnight caramel rolls, fruit, milk, and juice.  It was delicious!  But the kids could only be placated for so long.  They knew there were more presents to open!  Grandma Candy does something neat with her presents for the grandkids.  They each get to open a present...but the gifts stay at Grandma's house so that they can have fun things to play with when they come to visit.  The kids love it!

After presents, it was time to play and enjoy some time together.

We're a big group, and we were missing about half of us.  Someday, maybe we'll see a Christmas morning with us all together.  Merry Christmas to my crazy family!

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning had finally arrived!  Everyone slept well the night before, and even the adults got to bed at a pretty good time.  Best of all, the kids managed to sleep in until about 7:30ish.  Not too shabby!  Once they were up, I sneaked out to get some pictures of the tree and Santa gifts before the kids dove in.  It was a pretty impressive sight!  Our kids are so spoiled!

The kids all got exactly what they asked for from Santa!  I guess they've been pretty good kids this year. :)  They were so excited when they came out of our room.  I love that about Christmas morning!

Johnny LOVED his giant remote controlled truck.  He couldn't believe how big it was!

And Luke was beyond stoked about his little riding horse.  He wasn't exactly sure how to get moving on it yet, but he was excited to find out!

Then there's Claire and her Jingle.  Claire has been asking for Jingle for Christmas since Sophie got her Belle (girl version) for her birthday...in September. :)  Claire might be the most easily distracted child I've ever known, but she had no problem focusing on Jingle!  For weeks before Christmas, every time we were in a store that sold anything remotely toy related, she'd say, "I sure hope Santa has a Jingle for me!  I've got my eye on that Jingle..."  This girl cracks me up!  And she was a very happy 6 year-old come Christmas morning.  She got her Jingle after all. :)

Sophie had a very specific gift in mind from Santa as well.  She wanted this big Princess castle that she saw at Toys R Us, and she wouldn't budge.  Not even when we showed her all the smaller castles that Santa might more easily be able to accommodate.  Sophie always knew that Santa would deliver.  After all, she had been a VERY good girl this year!  So while she was so excited to see her castle set up and waiting for her, she wasn't surprised in the least. :)

The thing I love about Santa is that he doesn't wrap the gifts for our house.  It cracks me up every year that the kids hardly notice the hoards of wrapped gifts under the tree after they see their Santa gifts.  The kids and Danny played with the toys for a while before we moved on to the tree.

Right before the kids started pulling presents from underneath the tree, they noticed the gift I put together for their art table.  We all agreed that it looked pretty, and solved our organization dilemma.  Merry Christmas to Mom! :)

The kids made a haul again this year!  They especially loved the gifts they bought for each other, which I think is so neat.  They really do think about what sibling they're shopping for, and what will make them happy.  I think they do a better job of shopping for each other than Danny and I do of shopping for them!  Without too much narration, here's Christmas morning 2013!

What a fun Christmas morning!  After we were done with all the presents, and we cleaned up the masses of wrapping paper, boxes, and bows...it was time to play!  I got the kids a little something to eat to tide them over until brunch at Grandma Candy's house, and then let them have at their presents.  What a perfect morning...

Grandma and Papa came to see the kids' Christmas presents, as well as give the kids the gifts they bought for them.  Danny and I love the fact that we don't have to travel for Christmas anymore!  Let the grandparents come to us! :)

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In the sibling gift exchange for Danny's family, Aunt Katie got us this year.  She got us a much needed antennae for our TV.  And our gift from Mom and Dad was pretty awesome this year...tickets to see Wicked when it come to Salt Lake City next summer!  Can't wait!!

And with that, our Christmas morning was done.  It went by quickly, like it always does.  But it was perfect this year.  It was exactly the Christmas Danny and I had been waiting for for years.  How grateful we are that we had all our children with us, at home and healthy.  What a miracle it is that we got another Christmas with Luke.  It was on all our minds that we weren't suppose to have this Christmas with Luke, and it kept the real reason for this season close to our hearts.  We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  For his life, death, and especially for his Atonement.  Everything we have is because of Him.  

Christmas morning may be done, but we're just getting started with Christmas!  On to brunch at Grandma Candy's!