Oh Christmas Tree!!!

I'm tellin ya, my favorite part about Christmas is getting my tree out and up. It is a 12 foot tree, comes in two boxes and 6 or 7 sections. It is huge, so we totally have to rearrange the room's furniture to make it fit. I have an eclectic tree. It can be divided in to a few themes per se. I don't have that gorgeous designer pretty tree, but every ornament on it has a story and I can tell you where it came from. I have the basics- matte finish glass balls in jewel tones, and tons of glass icicles in all different sizes. And then I have my themes-- Precious Moments, Snowmen, photo ornaments,snowflakes, candy canes and everything else. I have been in a family ornament exchange for a number of years as well as doing one with my Bunco group, so my collection of one of a kinds has grown considerably for that reason.

Some of my favorite ornaments are ones that are the only one on of its kind on the tree. Like the one from Phoenix Children's Hospital we got when he was admitted for 2 weeks on his Christmas. Or the ones I picked up along the way in Europe two summers ago. Or this set of awesome White House Christmas ornaments we get each year. Odd I know, but they are so cool. The Historical Society in DC puts them out. Or a few Disney bells from the Christmas we spent at Disney World. Or any that are handmade. Let's face it, I love 'em all...I have a few dozen Precious Moments ornaments, I love them and I get new ones each year.
Every year I find one ornament for each member of the family to put on the tree. So, there are 3's of some, then 4's and so on as our family grew. This year I got these ones, that say "Middle, Oldest and Youngest Child -Mom's Favorite" I thought they were so cute.
I love little things like this ornament I have from my junior year when Rusty used it to answer me to a dance.

I have photos of the kids from every year in little frames, this year they are these cute blue snowflakes.

But I have to say the best part of having my tree up this year is this...

Built in babysitter for Brenner. It's like the tallest baby mobile around. My colicky, crying, reflux baby will lay still under this one branch and watch the lights and ornaments FOREVER. He has finally gotten his coordination so good that he can grab at the balls (non breakable of course) and hit the bells around him. A lot of the time he will be just talking and cooing at the lights. It's just about the cutest thing really. In fact the first picture of this post has Brenner doing his thing...

When I break it down and put everything away I have 4 bins of just ornaments. I love it. And believe it or not, one of them is still full in my closet cause I ran out of energy to hang anymore! Last year we got the boys a little 4 foot tree that has all the 'kid' stuff on it. And of course it is filled with sports, cartoons and a whole lotta blue.

What's your tree look like? Do you have one favorite ornament?

Tinsel, Twinkles, Glitter and Glam...

I seriously LOVE Christmas time. I love the music, I love the shopping. Heck I even love addressing a zillion Christmas cards till my hand hurts. I love the colors of the season and I especially LOVE the decorations. We've been doing crafts and more crafts adding to our holiday decor. The big boys love to help me. The baby loves to see just how talented of a crafter I am by forcing me to do it all with one hand and an extra 15 pounds around my neck. And so he wasn't left out I made him Christmas themed paci clip.

So we've made Candy cane button ornaments. Super easy, and way cute.

I spray painted these giant JOY letters and put them up in a niche I never quite know how to adorn.

I got my Martha on with this fun, albeit time consuming, tree craft. See how here...And although this is a picture of it part way finished you get the idea. I did complete it, but never took a picture. Oh well.

I glittered name tags for the stockings, since there has been a debate on whose is whose. I added a cute candy cane striped ribbon and hung them on the mantle with the stockings.

The boys did a gingerbread house, only managed to spill all the candy once, and eat only a small amount of it along the way.

And finally just a few of the 'round the house decor.

I especially LOVE my tree- so it gets it's own post soon to come...

Tootin' Horns...

I have so many talented friends and family, that I thought I would give them a shout out, toot their horn and all that.

First off, my neighbor Mendy makes the MOST amazing Designer Bundt Cakes. I have had the best job in the world of being an official taste tester for new flavors. And I love it. Rusty does too. My waistline, not so much...but I digress.

LilyLou's is the place to check out these yummy creations. The one pictured above is the Peppermint Stick and I have crumbs of it sitting on my counter top right now. Delish. Rusty's fav is the Butterscotch and mine is the Lemon Raspberry. You may remember she made Berkley's 3rd birthday cake- Junior Mint- it was also a hit...

Next up- An old friend and fellow Heart Mom Heidi. You can read her blog here but what I think is amazing is that she has organized a run in her beautiful son Ethan's honor. I know you are all runners out there. It is for a great cause that is dear to my heart, no pun intended and if I were a runner I'd be there. Heck, for Heidi and Mr E maybe I'll become a runner.

All the info is available if you click the logo on my sidebar or from the family's blog.

Thirdly, (that so isn't a word is it?) Another amazing Mother, and friend from my ward Shawni. Now I know you all have gotten her book that she and her mother co authored, but if not, now is the perfect time to do so. You see, Shawni has an amazing daughter named Lucy. She is so special and loved so much. Her family is trying to do everything they can to do research into her rare disorder. Their blog is here and besides the amazing photography and funny real life moments you'll see on there, you'll also notice links for the "I Love Lucy Project"

Royalties from the book- which I think every Mom should have (mine got it for Mother's Day- just saying...) go towards finding a cure for this disorder. You can read all about it and see the most beautiful blue eyed girl ever, by following the link on the right. A side note, for those of you who know Shawni, just keep in mind that she was pregnant with Lucy when I was pregnant with Berkley. It was so not fair. She is so tall and skinny, even at 9 months prego. That's all I'm saying.

And next, my old friend Kim has a photography business. Which is amazing, she and her hubby are partners. And I wish I was in Utah so I could use them, but I'm not. But I can use her to design photo announcements. She did Brenner's birth announcement and my Christmas card as well as a ton of others.

I have been telling her to put them on her site, so maybe she will now...No Pressure Kim, what's ONE more blog to keep up? hee hee. Her prices are reasonable and I love everything she's done that I've seen. Plus, when we were little my sister Rhonda tried to do a fancy spin on Kim's iron railing and ended up with stitches, so I kinda love her for lots of reasons... (Rho bet you forgot that one, huh? nice) All her contact info is on her blog.

And finally, an old pal Kelli started a This & That Blog. It has tips, crafts and give aways! Who doesn't love those? Nuff said. Check it out here.

I think in my next Tootin' Horns blog I'll do recipe blogs I {heart}

Thanksgiving 2009...

We just got back from a quick trip up to Utah for Thanksgiving. We stayed with Rusty's Uncle Ron and his family in Highland. They are the best hosts ever. We had a nice drive up with the kids mostly because Brenner got to take his first airplane ride to Utah. And as an added bonus, since Noni & Pops flew up with Brenner I got to get a full 10 hours of sleep!

Thanksgiving was fun and filling. We played outside in the snow, ate and talked with family. Later that night we drove up to my sister's house in Sandy so Brenner could meet his Hodges cousins and Uncle Loyle.

Aunt Robyn gave Brenner his first haircut and made his side burn wings disappear.

Rusty had fun making Brenner do his favorite trick and the boys thought the snow was just about the greatest thing ever.

Berk talked Uncle Ron into letting him ride on the mower, and had a grand ole time doing it.






Brenner's first time in SNOW!
We did some Black Friday shopping, but not on purpose. Really, I only ended up at the mall to see my sis in law who was working and got out of there without buying a thing.

Saturday was the big BYU vs UofU game. We went to Kneaders for a yummy breakfast and then took our family pictures. Later, while Rusty, his dad and sister went to cheer on the Cougs, the boys and I smartly stayed in the comfort of the Becks warm house. Thankfully, BYU pulled it out and we love Max for his comments post game. I finally got to see where Kelcie and her roomies live and remember how dang cold Utah gets.

The drive home Sunday went well, the boys did good until we hit the outskirts of Phoenix and then I was ready to toss them out the window. Thanks a bunch Ron & Robin for letting us crash your Thanksgiving!

I had a post about Gratitude to share, but never had a computer to post it, so I will soon I think anyway!

A Little Help Please...

So, Brenner hates the car. Hates it. No I mean really. From the moment I lay him in the seat he starts screaming! I have tried mirrors, hanging toys, bottles, paci's and nothing stops him once he gets going. So, for right now, I just avoid going anywhere with him that I don't have to. Doesn't matter if the trip is long, like taking Berk to preschool or short, like picking Braden up from school- his level and intensity of crying is the same. I know most people think babies love the car. Not so. It is so stressful to drive in traffic with the screaming coming from the car. And even once we reach our destination it takes me a good 15 minutes to calm him down.

Now I'm even getting stranger's sympathies. Like the random Mom at preschool who said she'd drive 25 minutes out of her way to come get Berk so I didn't have to put Brenner in the car. Or the lady at the McDonald's drive thru- who patiently took my order and had me pull forward only to tell me she couldn't hear a word I said.

So what do I do. Ear muffs are illegal, I'm pretty sure. And taping his paci to his mouth is probably frowned on. So short of hiring someone to sit in the backseat with him until he outgrows this phase, I am out of ideas! I need ideas, suggestions. I am struggling. Poor baby has white salt stains on his car seat straps from where the tears roll down his cheeks, it's killing me!

A Little Reminicing...

Ever since I had Brenner, I seem to spend a lot of time in my rocking chair. Feeding him, rocking him, sleeping- I mean him not me, and watching TV. Well I noticed that my very most-est favorite show EVER Gilmore Girls was in reruns and right at the beginning of the series. So I started taping it and watching it.

After a month or two I noticed something... THEY WERE SKIPPING EPISODES! So annoying! Well, finally I dragged my lazy bum downstairs and brought up the DVD's (I have of the entire series).

Needless to say, all of my other prime time shows are on hold indefinitely while I watch Lorelei and Rory and all their crazy times again. I am almost finished with season 4 and I am already dreading it ending in season 7. This show was witty and quick and I loved it. Oh, the good old days. I swear one of my favorite compliments ever was when this cute 12 year old at church told me I reminded her of Lorelei.

Oh, Stars Hollow, Luke, Dean-Jess-Logan, Sookie, I miss you all.

And I already have an idea of who will occupy my DVD player when I finish with them... it's a toss up between Charmed, Alias and Friends or maybe I'll finally watch Heroes.

Hmmm, maybe I will be fair and just proceed in alphabetical order. What old shows do you miss? And I know one of you is wondering if you can borrow my GG dvd's...

Attention, Attention!!!

Allright, that's it.

I here by declare November the official

"If you bother to read a blog in the first place,

then take 2 seconds to leave a comment on it"

Month.

Let's face it, with google reader, and bloglines, you don't even have to blog hop to keep up on your friends blogs, but come on! Time to rejuvenate those of us who need blogs for the praise, the "hey, you're funny" and the ego. Thanks to my friend AliFinale, one of the first blogs I ever read, for this reminder and for her friend who has this cute sign on her blog. I don't know her, but I like her already...

So pass it on. I will be doing my darndest to show the love to the blogs I follow, do the same. Even if you've never commented before. Stranger or friend. Even if it's a quick "Me too!" Give us Mommy Bloggers some love... because I know you're coming and reading from my Blog Patrol. And it hurts my feelings a little that my hit counter shows 50-80 readers a week, yet I manage a lousy 5 comments- even on my best stuff? Do you know what that does to my pride???

If you agree, pass it on. Blog about it. Facebook it. Heck Tweet it- no don't really, I think Twitter is lame. But don't feel shameful about plugging yourself. Sometimes the few words we get from a comment makes our day. At least for me. And I promise, if you take the time to comment on a blog, that person will for you too sometime. It's the whole Blog Karma thing working.

Halloween Week...

Brenner's First Halloween

When I was a kid, Halloween was all about the one night of going to as many houses as you could, as fast as you could, filling as many pillowcases as you could. Boy, do my kids have it easy! Their candy collecting is spread out over an entire WEEK!

First we have our annual Mortensen Family Party. I didn't count but I'd guess (considering we bring treats for HS age and younger-65 this year) that there were easily 200 people there. It was chilly, but not bad, and the kids had a great time, playing games, doing the parade and T-o-Ting in the circle. My boys just wanted to jump or swing-but they did 'help' Noni with her game. Brenner was adored by all and was so good.

And I don't think I've mentioned that my hubby and my FIL keep leaving us to go up to the BYU games, but they do. And I have cute pictures from the homecoming game. They got to be on the field because Russ played back in the day- #54 shout out!

Then we had our Ward Trunk or Treat. Of course AZ had to choose this day to finally get cold. I had to wear a sweatshirt and everything! I know everyone says they're ward rocks, but mine truly is the best. I didn't take any pictures that night, and Brenner spent it with Noni, Pops, & Ry- but we did have a fun time trying to stay warm.

Friday, Braden had the Halloween stuff at school. I almost missed him at pick up because he was still in his costume! He had a birthday party that night as well.

Have I mentioned Berk started Preschool since his birthday? He did, and he is amazing. No tears or anything. He was more annoyed that I didn't leave fast enough. Some of the first day of school comments included, "LEAVE!" "Go home" and "I don't want you, I want my teacher." Gotta love the second child. His teacher is amazed at just how different he is from Braden. (this is from the first day of school. I cropped out the paci and the animal in his hands...)

And the main event. Halloween morning we did stuff around the house. Rusty checked off a bunch of things from my 'Honey Do' list- finally. And then we took our time getting ready. Braden was Superman, we even sprayed his hair black. Berk was "Yightyear" Buzz Lightyear and Brenner was a cute little tiger. The big boys and Rusty T-o-T'ed in our neighborhood, while Brenner and I passed out candy. Or rather, Brenner ate, spit up, fell asleep and I passed out candy. He was so zonked that he slept in his costume till about 2 am! Then I took the big boys over to their grandparents neighborhood to do a little more candy getting. Berk was done, stripped off his costume and all. But my boy Braden did every house in there- and was rewarded with several of the elusive full-sized candy bars.... Atta boy. Except that Mr.Superman made me carry his bag, cause it was too heavy. We've got things to work on before next year...

And then tonight, we sorted the candy, and left out a big basket for the Great Pumpkin to come take. The boys can't wait to see what he left them in the morning...