Our Year in Review

Wow this has been one of the most eventful years of our marriage. It was filled with a lot of ups and downs and I wouldn't trade any of it. Okay maybe the bed rest, I am still wondering what I was suppose to learn from that.

January: We had Jeron's Grandmas funeral. We reconnected with the Jones. YEAH! We were still undecided on our babies name. It was Beegee at the time. I learned that the Heimlich really works thanks to Ellie. Our beloved prophet President Hinckley passes.

February: We stood in line at the viewing for two hours and walked and walked and walked. Maybe that is why partial bed rest came this month. The Jones girls stayed here and we had a blast having them. After there visit I was moved to full bed rest. JJ turned eight. I can't believe my baby is already eight. Ellie had her first toilet attempt...work in progress still. Emma lost her first tooth. JJ won some events at his and Jeron's first pine wood derby.

March: Jeron Baptized JJ on March 1st. What a wonderful day thanks to all the help we had and the spirit that was felt. Maren and Ryan came for a visit, and for JJ. Ellie gave new meaning to the word PILL. Emma turned six...when did that happen? A few scary nights of thinking Elsie was coming...and then on March 14 she did. We got to have an all expense paid trip to the NICU. What? We have to pay for that!? How the !@#$ do you suppose we do that? We came home with a new baby. We had our first Easter with four kids. This was the month that I learned true compaction and service. Many people gave up so much of there time to help us in our time of need. Many thanks to all of you especially my Mom who dropped her life to help us.

April: I didn't know being a Mom of four was so hard. I don't remember my Mom struggling like I did. General Conference where Elder Ballard wrote a talk just for me. We learned a good lesson about Karma. Ellie pulls Elsie off the bed, JJ drops Ellie and bangs her up pretty bad, and last JJ flies over the handle bars of his bike. KARMA! JJ and Emma break the law. Okay it is my law but it was BROKEN. My cousin's husband Richard Lloyd passes. What a legacy he left behind. He was an amazing man and has inspired me to Live RICH.

May: I started liking the Jazz again. Ellie adores Elsie and wants to hold her all the time, and her favorite song is Sweet Escape...it still is. Emma found a butterfly that loved her and hung with her for a good 20 minutes. JJ has turned into a great helper. We saw a lot of family this month. JJ had his first Power point presentation. School's out for summer. An unexpected visit from the Jones, and the first time they have been to our house. We get family pictures.

June: The Buzz brothers cut their hair. Jeron continues to have this hairstyle today. Making Upside down carrot cake. Hanging with great neighbors. Multiple breast infections that put me down for days. JJ and Emma's baseball games. Thanks to everyone who came to support them. 4wheeling with Roger. Jeron turns 32. Fathers's Day. Ellie plays superman and sprains her ankle. JJ cuts his finger with a pocket knife. Seeing old friends. Elsie and Emma adore each other. Swimming, swimming and more swimming.

July: Could there be a better month. We started it off with a huge party for the country. Elsie got blessed and so many people came. Then we went to Lagoon not once but twice...got to love bounce back? My birthday with all my family. Bee's game that Emma and Jeron's team got to go on the field. Cutest thing ever. Lots and lots and lots of family and friend times. Elsie finally pees on her Daddy. Our van becomes possessed and dies.

August: Emma gets the worst sliver ever. Elsie gets the cutest pictures ever by our friend Hailey Sant. We go to the cabin. Maren visits! Olympics! Jeron takes the kids river rafting with some of his family. My family takes the kids to This is the Place Heritage Park. Emma has a back to school party for 1st grade jitters. Kids start school. Ellie steps up being a pill.

September: Labor day weekend the kids had the neighborhood night games party, Utah started off there season and won, We went to the Cabin and hung with the Cracroft family. Ellie started school. Meads cousin party. Fall out with some people. Elsie eats solid food. We have our ten year anniversary. Emma learns to ride her bike. Woman's conference with the Cracrofts and Nichole. First time leaving Elsie. Forgetting to turn off my parents car and leaving it idle in SLC.

October: Ellie turns four. Another great General Conference. A fun Priesthood night out with the Cracrofts and us ladies. Having boiling water poured on me in a water fight. Fun trip to Idaho with some friends. Beautiful Autumn this year. My Utes are STILL undefeated. We make cookies. My parents Ghost us. JJ and Jeron catch a fish with there bare hands. Picking and carving pumpkins. Dogsitting and Willie loves Elsie. Our annual family Halloween Party with more "crazies" this year.

November: The Halloween witch offends my son. Obama wins the election. Another cousin visit. Learning life lessons from Ellie. Thanksgiving with Jeron's family. Six is a crowd in the bathroom. Utes beat BYU! A whole year of bragging rights. JJ gets his bobcat. Emma has turned into a really good reader.

December: We took the kids to the Forgotten Carols. I had my cousins up for a cousin day. Ellie had her surgery and it didn't work. Emma and Ellie have their dance recital. We had the Meads' cookie party. There was lots and lots of snow. Santa came to the school. Financial scares. Maren and Ryan came for Christmas. We took the kids bowling. We had Christmas. We got a super nice camera for my parents. Yeah for me. Santa dropped his sleigh at our home. Everyone spoiled our kids and us. We hit two movies with the kids. Saw a ton of family.

2008 was a great year. I learned a lot. Most of all I learned how much I need the people that are in my life. First and most of all I need Jeron for EVERYTHING. I need the wisdom of our parents. I need the love and support from our families. I need the laughs I get from my sibilings. I also have needed so much help from all of our wonderful friends. There has been so much that I couldn't do this year and had to rely on the help of others. Thank you for making our year as wonderful as it was. I hope you all have a wonderful year filled with much happiness.

cOuLd yOu gEt aNy hOttEr?

I just can't leave this picture out of all our festive December fun. All the guys got together and played basketball. Jeron DOMINATED everyone if I do say so myself. Ya you will hear a lot of "Well I was sick." coming from the rest but lets face it they are just excuses. Ryan and Smitty might of had the flu...but so did MJ when he beat the Jazz. Come on fellas. It was a lot of fun. After we played speed. I haven't played that in years(and it showed). Maren held her own with the boys. David won and Jeron won. Of course Jeron won. He OWNED all of you. After that we went to Spankys minus Jeron and the kids. Then went to Matt and Erins party. It was all good times.

{Merry Christmas}

Every Christmas our kids have had to be woken up. Each year I have done it. I use to wake up at 4am and wait until 5am to wake up Jeron and the kids. This year I told the kids I am no longer going to wake them up. I haven't been getting good sleep so I knew now was my chance. Jeron and I rolled into bed this morning around 2am. We had just settled down for a long winter's nap,When out on in the living room there arose such a clatter,I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. It was 4am and our children were up ready to go. Jeron told them to get in our bed and NO ONE was going to get up until 6am. I want you to imagine laying in our bed with two very EXCITED kids. I got kicked, poked, and bugged for the next one and a half hours. I begged Jeron at 5:30 to just let us get up. We got up read Luke 2 and then lined up in order of youngest to oldest. I really wondered if Santa had even had the time to come only having a very small window from 2am-4am, but sure as the sun rises he had come. The kids had such a wonderful morning opening presents.






After we opened our last present we got ready for the day and headed over to Mama and Papa's house for some more Christmas fun. The kids got spoiled as usual by grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. All the kids got there very first UTAH sweatshirts from Mama and Papa. Yipee! We were lucky enough to have Uncle Carl there as well. It was so much fun. We ate our usual Christmas morning breakfast with the addition of Orange rolls...YUMMY! We played the Wii which Mama got. I will have to say though that Jeron and I got totally spoiled. My parents got us a super nice camera as an investment in our children. I was almost as excited as when I got my barbie house. Thanks Mom and Dad. I love spending time with my family. We played cards and had a great time together.






After we left the Meads' we headed down to Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene's house. We ate a wonderful dinner opened even more present and hung out. the kids got spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles again. We all did. The kids all got exactly what they wanted. How do the Grandparents know just what to get them? It really was a nice night. We were sad when we had to leave early due to the scary weather outside. I can't end this post by letting everyone know that we had not one but TWO engagements in the Snow family on Christmas. Jeff proposed to Tara, and Megan is engaged. I know little Megan...it is crazy in a good way. Congrats to all of you.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we always go up to Grandpa John's and Grandma Viki's house. The kids get to get their first gift of the season that day. JJ got lego's and was thrilled. Emma got a barbie and furniture and loved it. Ellie got a new doll called click it and thought it was so cute. Elsie got a new baby walker and didn't know what to think of it, but loved the wrapping paper. Grandma Viki made potato salad with Ellie on the floor. Thanks for everything it was so good to see you and eat the yummo tamales.






Then we come home and eat dinner, open our Christmas pajamas, and watch a Christmas movie with the kids. Our Elf always rings a bell to let us know that it is time to go to bed. This year the coolest thing happened. At the EXACT same moment the bell rang we heard a knock at the door. We go to the door and there is a note that reads "go to your back door." So we run to the back door and open it. There is plate of cookies. We totally forgot to make Santa cookies so the kids are certain that our Elf left them so that Santa would have cookies and we wouldn't have to stay up late to make some. Thank to that Elf. It saved our bahookies. Once we got the cookies out and the carrots on the deck the kids headed off to bed. Jeron and I watch Chrismtmas movies and wrapped presents. Then at 2am we went to bed. We sure hope Santa comes!



JJ has seen A Christmas Story enough times to worry that he just might get bunny pj's like his sisters. I think he was relieved to see the grown up boy stuff.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Monson Family Party

Every year my family gets together to have a family party. I love seeing everyone and getting reacquainted. This year almost everyone was there with the obvious exception of The Vogels. My Aunt Nancy is like the party guru so she has no problem hosting all of us and making it look easy. It was so good to see all of you and hope you have a wonderful 2009.

sAnTa cLaUse iS cOmiNg tO tOwN

Every year at the school my kids have a Carol Share. It is cute all the grades get together and sing a song or two per grade. I have gone in the past and I love it. Our school doesn't have a program ever so this is what I get to enjoy at Christmas. Well this year NO parents were allowed. I had a feeling there was a reason. The sign out front said "HO HO HO Santa Clause is coming to town. Merry Christmas." I put two and two together and realized Santa must be coming. With all of the toddlers in the area I am sure they just wanted to not have a mad house. I was frustrated but stayed home. I called Joy to find out if she was going and she wasn't so I decided I would obey and stay home. hummph! :(

That is when I got a call from Joy at about 10:25 telling me to get in my car, she just found out that Santa is coming IN A HELICOPTER!!! at 10:30 Ellie and I threw on clothes and ran out the door. We drove to the back of the school and were able to watch Santa land in his helicopter.


The school had a "Fire Drill" so all the kids lined up outside and that is when they noticed the helicopter. Then as it was descending some of the kids started to point. You could see Santa in the window. Then it landed and Santa walked out. The crowd of 1000+ kids erupted into screams, yells, jumping, and pure JOY! I cried with the excitement the kids were feeling. It was just what I needed to bring a little holiday cheer into my cold heart. I can't wait for my kids to get home to tell me all about it. We really do live in one of the best places ever.

This is where all the kids went CRAZY . It was like a rock concert for kids. I loved it!!!

niNe moNths oLd

Elsie is now nine months and two days. She is still kind of stuck in the stage of not doing much. That is until today when she figured out how to get from laying down to sitting up. I was shocked. She doesn't even roll around. She is funny that way. She is starting to talk...babble a little. She says Dada, an occasional Mom, and Hi all the time. She loves to clap her hands. She also loves to sing with me or the kids. She still hasn't broken out in huge laughter yet. She will laugh but it usually turns to a cry after about ten laughs.

She thinks JJ is the coolest kid in the world and smiles whenever she sees him. She adores Emma and watches her in awe. Whenever Ellie walks into the room she starts to cry if she can't see me. Ellie has gotten in trouble (unfounded) because Elsie will start to cry hysterically. I now know this doesn't mean Ellie has hurt her. She does love Ellie when I am holding her. Elsie is totally attached to my hip. I have about a two foot leash. I love this but it is hard some days. She is the apple of her Daddy's eye. They have a cute bond. She loves to snuggle with him.

She is starting to get to that stage where everything is new and exciting. I just hope her teeth come soon. She has been trying to get them for a while. I feel awful for her. This has made her my most cranky baby by far. Some days it is very wearing. She cried almost the whole Thanksgiving weekend. By the time Monday came Jeron was thrilled to go back to work. I think she loves her schedule and when we don't keep it she isn't very happy with us.

She is the only baby that I have let cry herself to sleep. This was hard for me but I just couldn't do the 3am to 5am plus constant interruption to my sleep by other children shift anymore. It only took one night, and now she understands that she needs to get herself back to sleep. I wonder why I never did this with the others.

She really is a doll. We all just love her to pieces. She gets more then her fair share of kisses. I can't wait to see what else she will learn in a month.

Let it Snow

There is no place like the Snow place when it Snows. We went out today and enjoyed the Snow. I made a wicked slope off of our rocks out front(Slope pictured is not the one I made) and the kids had a blast with their friends. Our neighbor pulled them on a sled behind the 4wheeler around the field. They had a great time just being in the snow.

woNdeRfuL fRieNds

We have been friends with the the Johns for a long time now. We just love them and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Jana is someone that is always there for me and gets me. I love to be with people that I can be myself around and not worry at the end of the day if I said anything wrong. Graydon and Jeron hit it off from the beginning and have been great friends ever since. The Johns are more like family then friends.

Each year we have a Christmas dinner. This year it was our turn. We had a great time and this has turned into one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I hope we continue doing this after the kids have grown and we are old and grey. Thanks for the good times.

I only got this picture. It is really sweet though. This is Elsie opening her very first Christmas Present.

cOoKie pArtY

We had a very busy day today, first two dance recitals, family over, and then a cookie party.

My Nana and granddaddy would have a "Cookie Party" every year. We would go and decorate gingerbread houses. My parents have carried on this tradition with their grandkids. We went over and decorated the houses and had a great time. The kids love doing this. I don't know which is more fun eating all the candy and frosting or decorating the houses. It is fun to see their different personalities come out in the way that they decorate. Thanks Mama and Papa, it was a lot of fun.

This is JJ's first year to do the house on his own. JJ's house reminds me a lot of one David would have made. They are a lot alike. Even in the way that they decorate their house.

Emma worked with Papa this year. He helped her put on her frosting and she put the candies in place. It won't be to long before she doesn't have help either. Man they grow fast.

Ellie worked with Mama, or should I say watched Mama. She put a few candies on but Mama had to finish it because Ellie lasted only as long as she was able to eat every last piece of candy. Every time I looked at her she had another piece of candy in her mouth.

Soon enough Elsie will get her chance.