Christmas

We spent Christmas at J's parents this year.  Christmas Eve we went over to J's Aunt Jannie's for dinner and to play a few games.  Zuri had fun playing with the kids and really enjoyed the big bendy ball.  She even had fun in a new hat!

Zuri also enjoyed spending time with her great-great grandma.

Zuri is still a little too young to understand Santa and what happens Christmas morning, but she did enjoy opening her presents!

Funny story, we got Zuri a Tinkerbell pop-up play tent, and her cousin Addilyn got a block set.  Zuri went straight for the blocks and Addilyn went straight for the tent.  Even afterwards, Zuri was still enamored with the blocks.  We know what to get her for her birthday! ;-)

She also had fun playing with the microwave, and play kitchen set.

Saturday we spent time playing in the snow.  We wanted to build a little hill for the girls to sled down, but we couldn't find a sled; Alisia even went out to the store but they were all sold out so we improvised and found a swimming pool that we tied to the four-wheeler and pulled the girls behind.  Zuri didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would.  She preferred riding on the four-wheeler with her daddy!

  Sunday we went over to the Lucero's for our Christmas with them.  We had a fabulous turkey dinner and exchanged gifts and just relaxed for the evening. 
Even Zuri enjoyed eating!

 

Ashley's little one got a hat this year too! 

The kids enjoying their presents!

"What's This?"

Zuri's new phrase: "what's this?" She points at everything and says "what's this?" or "dah"--short for dog.  Anything that moves is a "dah."  It's pretty funny, but she loves to say "what's this?"  She is exploring the world and babbling lots.  If you listen to her babbling closely enough, you can distinguish actual words, but mostly it just sounds like jibberish.  I am a little concerned because she doesn't seem to be talking like I have heard other kids her age talk, but her pediatrician is unconcerned.  He said that kids develop their speech at different rates, and as long as she is making the effort to communicate (which he has observed), and she understands simple commands, she is normal.  I suppose that with all the concern and issues that we have had with her weight, I am ultra-aware of anything that might be "delayed" or a problem. 

My dad and I were talking about my concerns and he told me a story about my brother.  He said my brother would do the normal grunt and point and wouldn't talk at all.  He wanted something to drink one day and my dad gave him a glass of water.  He said that my brother spoke up and said "no, I want coke," and from then on was talking.  I can totally see Zuri doing something like that, because she did that with walking.  She just decided one day after church that she didn't want to crawl anymore and walked from then on. 

Hopefully, she will start to expand her vocabulary soon, but until then, I will love "dah," and "what's this?"

Family

Since this year we are celebrating Christmas with J's side of the family, my dad decided to take a trip out to visit us last weekend for an early Christmas treat. Along with my dad came my grandma and Jori. My grandpa stayed in Sacramento to look after the animals and help out with a neighbor.

They drove out Thursday and stayed with us through Sunday--even coming to church with us, which was a nice treat. An interesting thing happened over the weekend, though. My dad and Zuri really bonded.

J had to work Friday, and even though Amanda was available, she wanted to look for a new job that day, so I asked Dad if he would be willing to watch Zuri for us. He said that would be okay, on one stipulation: no diapers. I laughed and told him to have Jori change her. As luck would have it--she pooped, and no one else was around, so Dad changed it. Lol, he told me I was in big trouble. ;-) I am not sure all that happened Friday, but a bond definitely formed between the two of them.Zuri  would only calm down for Dad, and he would go in and check on her before bed. He even made a point to go say goodbye to her as he was leaving to go back to Tahoe (she had been throwing a tired tantrum and we had put her up in her room). It was so sweet. I captured a few of the moments on film!


It was a really fun, if exhausting weekend. Zuri doesn't sleep well when she is in the same room with us. For whatever reason, she tends to wake up more often and have problems going back to sleep. Saturday night, she decided she wanted to be up all night playing; the little bum. I think she crashed about half an hour before we had to get up to get ready for church. Consequently, we were all tired Sunday.

I wasn't ready for Dad, Grandma and Jori to leave. Their stay seemed much too short, especially with me having to work Friday and part of Saturday. Although their visit was brief, it meant a lot that they came out.

Life hasn't gotten back to normal yet, either. Early Monday morning I woke with a feeling of an oncoming UTI. I hadn't had one in almost a year--eleven months to be precise. I thought maybe I could flush it away and spent yesterday drowning myself in fluids. No such luck. I felt well enough after work that I didn't go to the doctor's office, which was a mistake. Last night I was in agony and seriously considered going into the emergency room. I made it through--finally falling asleep around four-thirty in the morning just to get up two hours later. I went in during my lunch break, and sweet relief, I got my prescription. I am still hurting but it is at least tolerable and I am not going to the bathroom every five minutes. I really wish that I could get an advance prescription or just call in and have them fill one out for me so I don't have to go through all this pain.

As for better things, Christmas is Friday, and we will be heading down to J's parents house Thursday morning. Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week, and next week is only a four-day week because of New Years. Yay! Most likely I won't post anything else until after Christmas, so for all of you who read this:

Merry Christmas!

Family Christmas Party

Saturday was the Family Christmas Party down in Central Utah.  J's family has gotten too large to convene at one place, so this year we had it at the local Middle School. It ended up being a lot of fun. We had dinner, played some games, had a nativity play, and Santa even made an appearance! Zuri and Ashton! All the kids love Zuri, they all want to hold her and give her hugs. It is so funny to watch! The next picture is of some of the kids (including Zuri) playing up on the stage.

Yummy!  Ham is good!

Time for Santa! Zuri actually loved Santa--he came in with bells on and she laughed and clapped. We were all prepared for her to be scared; not our little trooper!

Funny story about this next picture. J and I were sitting in the back row of chairs, then J's grandpa announced that the little kids were to come sit in the front circle. Zuri hops off my lap at that point and goes straight to a chair in the front. We had a good laugh over that one!

All the kids dressed up and played out the nativity scene while J read Luke chapter 2. Zuri didn't know what was going on but she had fun anyway!

A Day at Mom's

A couple weeks ago, J was working on a 20-page paper for one of his classes, and to give him the whole day to work uninterrupted, I took Zuri up to visit with my mom and brother and sister. My mom and I went shopping and she got Zuri this adorable Christmas dress. I couldn't wait to see her in it, so when we got back to my mom's place, I put it on her and she was just so cute that I had to get pictures. My sister McKenzie has this rocking chair, and Zuri loved it as soon as she saw it. She figured out how to climb into it and turn around. She was so proud of herself!

Zuri loves Christmas trees with the lights and the decorations. She "oooh's" and "ahhh's" --literally! :-)

I got a picture with her curls because we have since chopped her hair. I am so sad to have done it, but she is pulling her hair out and leaving giant bald spots. Her hair used to be thickest on top (she had a reverse mullet going on), but now it is the thinnest. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just a daytime thing, but she also does it in her sleep. Hair is a comfort for her, and we are trying to break the habit now while she still has some hair. She now looks like a little boy....sigh. I loved her little curls.

I was messing with the camera while my mom was in the back bedroom for a minute. I didn't realize until I looked at the shot that Zuri had her finger in her nose! I laughed so hard when I saw the picture that I had to include it!

Zuri and McKenzie. They were so excited to see each other after so long. Zuri just adores her Aunt McKenzie!

Dallas playing the guitar for us!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and really hard this year. A few days before we left to go to Sacramento Zuri came down with a bad ear infection, and she picked up a cold which included a sore throat, congestion and coughing, AND she is teething. We debated whether it would be wise to even attempt the 12-hour drive to Sacramento; after seeing Zuri's pediatrician and getting antibiotics and eardrops we thought it would be okay. So, Wednesday after I got off work, we drove out.

It was a nightmare. Zuri cried and fussed. We tried everything, and it took J sitting in the back playing with her to keep her somewhat calm. Just before Elko we pulled off an exit and seriously talked about turning around and just heading home. She had calmed down and looked like she was about to fall asleep, so we decided to continue. She did fall asleep, and we ended up making it to Sacramento in record time (it took 9 1/2 hours).

She was a delight most of the time we were there, except the congestion and not-eating thing, we had fun. We had also made plans to spend Saturday with Chantal and family, but with Zuri being sick and traveling more, we all decided not to chance it. I was very disappointed. It is hard living so far from my best friend (and my family).

So, we went up to Tahoe Saturday night and spent the night with Dad, Emily and Luke. I think that it turned out for the best, because we wouldn't have been able to see Emily and Luke otherwise--they had worked Thanksgiving and were unable to make it down to Sacramento.

Sunday morning we got up and made the 9 hour drive back to Utah, which took us 12 hours. Go figure. The ride home was rougher than the ride out, but I think all-in-all, it was worth it.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend! Of course you have Zuri playing with the dog! She has gotten so much better with animals, I was really impressed. She doesn't try to pull their ears or tail or fur anymore! I can't wait until we have a place where we can get a dog for her.

Here we are playing a game called BANG!
We had a smaller group than normal this year for Thanksgiving, but I think that the smaller group made it that much better--of course, that's just me!

Zuri is intently watching the process of getting out the game.

Throughout the weekend, she was being so cute with the rings. She would put them on her head and feet. In this picture, she is trying to walk into the ring!

Friday and Saturday were the hardest days for her. Here she is just crashing with Daddy.

Zuri loves to share. She hasn't gotten to the point where she is possessive with toys yet (I hope she doesn't get to that phase), and she wanted to share all her toys with Grandma. She had all the toys piled so high that Grandma couldn't see over them!

...and putting the ring on her head. She got one that stayed!

Saturday morning, my great Uncle Chris and Aunt Marlene came over. J handed Zuri to Marlene and she fell asleep in her arms. She doesn't do that very often with people she doesn't know.

Saturday in Tahoe. This was what our weekend was like. One minute throwing a fit, and the next....

Happy! These two pictures were literally taken minutes apart.

Emily showing off her new camera, while J worked on some school work that he had to finish in the background.

Ashley's Baby Blessing

My sister had her baby blessed November 1st. It had set out to be a crazy day but ended up just being fun. Originally, J and I were going to go to our ward, because I was going to be set apart for my new calling that day, then we were going to go to the baby blessing in Salt Lake, then drive down south because J's brother, Cory, was getting his Eagle in Scouts that day as well. Sunday morning, J gets a call from work wondering why he isn't there--come to find out, he was scheduled to work and forgot (he is supposed to work one Sunday a month but hadn't needed to at that point). Since he was working and I really didn't feel like attending church by myself with Zuri (I would be spending the whole time in the foyer), I made a few phone calls and ended up just spending the day in Salt Lake. Ashley's ward has the late shift (one o'clock). J went down to his parents house on his own after he got off work. It worked out better that way since we weren't rushed or driving all over the place.

After the blessing, we all relaxed at Dave and Corie's house. Here is Ashley, Marcus, and the baby!
My sister Shawnie and Zuri

Zuri and me. I don't remember what she was pointing at, but it was cute.

Corie with the baby

It had been a long day for Zuri, and she hadn't had a nap. She almost fell asleep right on the stairs but the camera caught her attention and she was all over the place again. It's amazing how kids can fall asleep anywhere!