Happy Holidays!

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas! We really had a wonderful Christmas. It was our first Christmas together as an official family. =) Our Christmas festivities started on Friday evening with our ward Christmas party, where Chase got to sit on Santa's lap. And yes, that is a huge wet spot on his pants because, on this particular day, we had a hard time making it to the potty. This was like the 4th time he peed on himself in an hour and we didn't have any more clothes to chase him into...I know, we're such bad parents...

On Saturday Kiara came into town. Chase was so excited and totally showing off for her. The first few days she was called Aunt Carly, but now she is either Aunt Chila or Aunt Carly-Chila. Too funny. He was showing off when she finally made it to the house. Chase had her by the fingers and was dragging her to his room to show her his toys, and then to show her mommy and daddys room. What a goober he is! This is him showing off his muscles for Aunt Chila. =)

On Sunday, we had our big Christmas dinner. Mom made a yummy rib roast, we had twice baked potatoes, a holiday fruit salad, garlic and parmesan green beans, and Mom's homemade rolls. It was a very yummy meal. I made the dessert. It is called Peppermint Mountain Range and was really yummy!

The red part of the cake was peppermint flavored, and the yellow is yellow cake mix with mini chocolate chips. All of the cake mix was yellow cake mix, vanilla pudding, and sour cream, and of course the usual eggs, water, etc. The icing was just powdered sugar and milk and then I crushed peppermints on top. It made for a yummy Christmas cake!

We finished up all of our shopping on Christmas Eve (finally). Every year on Christmas Eve we have snack type foods for dinner. This year we had hot wings, cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, chips and dips, and a thousand other things. It was almost too much to eat. For dessert, I made peppermint tarts and muddie buddie chex mix. They were both really yummy! The peppermint tart didn't quite turn out like the picture, but I think they turned out cute. Mom said they looked like they needed to be on the Grinch!

Then, the real festivites started. We did our usual tradition where we act out the Nativity Scene and sing the songs that go along with it. We usually have too many people for our play, but this year we were a little short. Chase was Joseph, but you could not call him that because he is "Chasey", and Abby was Mary. Baby Jesus was a snowman statue...I guess that is what happens when you don't have little girls around anymore...I was the angel. Lexi was the 3 wisemen, Sam was the shepards, and Dad was the innkeeper. Mom was the coordinator and played the piano for the songs, X narrarated, and Kiara filmed. Chase was doing good as Jospeh, but then, halfway through decided to switch roles and to become a wise man with Lexi. He brought about 10 presents from under the tree to baby Jesus. =)

Finally, the best part of Christmas Eve came...we got to open our pajamas!! Chase was super excited and he could hardly stand himself. When he first opened the gift up and saw that it was only clothes, he threw them to the side and looked at his slippers, which light up. He got spider-man slippers with matching pajamas and after we put them on he was running and hopping all over the place to watch his slippers light up!

It finally came time to go to bed and Santa's little elfs (Lexi, X, Kiara, and I) got to work organizing stockings and setting out presents!

Morning came, and we all gathered around and opened up our Christmas presents. Chase, of course, made out like a bandit. We got him a basketball goal, a Diego scooter, Diego's Rescue Center, a Diego Knows Your Name Doll, and some other things. Each year our family draws names and this year Jarom and Beth drew Chase's name. They got him a Lincoln Logs set and a Diego mega blocks set. He loves them both! Thanks guys! I was lucky and the Mayfields drew my name. I got a Noel pin from Emma to wear on my shirt, and Carden got me a glittery snowflake ornament. They are so sweet. From the Mayfields, I also got the most BEAUTIFUL nativity set...that was all handmade by Alisha. I absolutely LOVE it! Also, they sent me a fastenator for scrapbooking which I am super excited about. X got me an absolutely beautiful purse. It is huge and red. I love it! X got a new pair of jeans and shoes, some curve cologne that he has been wanting, and the movie The Kingdom. Together mom and dad got us a really super nice pots and pans set and 2 sets of dinnerware. I am super excited about these because we are getting ready to move into our own apartment. The pots and pans are tri-steel and heavy duty and they dish sets are from target. They are black and white and the salad and dinner plates are square. They are so cool! Sam got an i-touch and accessories and some new shoes, Abby got a nintendo DS and accessories/games, Lexi got a trip to Utah for the break along with shoes and a coat, Kiara got her trip here and a gift card to Victoria's Secret and a picture frame with a really pretty picture of all the girls in the family, Mom got 2 books about Eve and a new purse from us, and Dad got an i-home and we got him a new drill and chocolates. And, for the family gift, we got a 13 foot square trampoline with a safety net! We had a really good Christmas!

My sweet little boy..and more...

The other night, Chase and I were laying in bed and I was trying to fall asleep when all of the sudden he kept flicking my nose. I was laying there with my eyes shut and i told him to stop. Well, this continued about four more times and was really getting on my nerves. Finally I decided to open my eyes and tell him to stop. When I opened my eyes, he was laying there looking at me with his lips puckered up and he whispered..."mommy, gimme a kiss". It made my day.


Here are a few cool pictures I got after our first snowfall...










We laughed about the snow in X's hair because it looks like dandruff...but I promise it is snow!

clean up crew.

Chase loading up all that firewood.
Chase and Abby outside as we were cleaning up the yard.

X cleaning up the yard.

I had to post this picture of the logs becuase Chase and I were on the back of Dad's truck loading up all the firewood Dad had cut and as I picked up this log with the brown ring in the center and set it on the pile, Chase looked at me and said in his growling voice..."good job mommy!" He just makes me smile!

Dad and Lex working hard to cut the firewood.

Just ONE of our huge piles of twigs and broken branches. At least we got a whole bunch of good free fire wood out of all this!!

Get ready for the biggest post ever...

Wow! This past week has definately been a huge new experience for all of us Alabamians living here in Tulsa. On the news we had been hearing that there was going to be a huge ice storm coming in on Sunday night, and there was a possibility of no school (which means no work for me.) Well, I didn't get my hopes up that school was going to be cancelled, because any time I would do that back in Alabama the ice storm would never happen and, sure enough, we would always end up having school. I guess since I didn't get my hopes up too high, the ice storm decided to come and hit us here in Tulsa. I remember waking up around 3 in the morning and just hearing things cracking and falling and thinking that it was just thunder and lightning, but when I woke up that morning I found out it was branches to all 4 of our huge oak trees crashing to the ground. I woke up at about 615 that morning like I usually do, and went to turn the lights on and they didn't work. I started getting worried because we didn't have any power. I finally got a hold of a radio station on my phone and found out that school was closed. I was happy...I got to go back to bed!! When I went to lay back down to go back to sleep I wasn't too concerned about the power turning back on, I figured that it would be back on by the time I woke back up. Well, come about 10 dad came and got X up to help clear the driveway because It was COVERED in branches from our trees. I decided to get out of bed and make breakfast and what not and discovered that we STILL did not have power. I have never lived without power for more than a few hours, but this time we lived without power AND heat for 3 days. From what I understand a huge generator blew and there were around 200,000 people without power. Some people still don't have any! It was the weirdest thing because people 2 blocks from where we live would have power, but no one around them would. The ice storm came and every leaf, branch, piece of grass was covered in at least a 1/2 inch think of ice! From our bedroom window you can get onto the roof and I almost stepped out onto the it so I could get some pictures of the trees, but then I realized that there was at least an inch of ice on it, and I am glad I didn't step on it because I would have gone sliding off the roof!

We spent Monday at home freezing and trying to find things to do because we had no TV, computer, NOTHING! Sam and Lexi enjoyed making up songs on the piano. X and I got pretty good at Bop It Extreme. Abby and Chase drove everyone absolutely crazy because Abby didn't have the phone that worked to talk to her friends, and Chase didn't have TV to watch Diego. We were all trying to spare our cell phones since we had no power to charge them with. Dad had to go to work (can you believe that?) His building had power though. He got off of work early to run to Sam's to get some stuff for us. He was talking to one of the workers and she had said that when they showed up to open up there was a line of people outside waiting to get into Sam's. She also told Dad that in one hour alone they sold $180,000 worth of chain saws, fire logs, and generators!!! Dad didn't make it in time to get any firewood, but he picked up some snacks and flashlights and firestarters. We burned firestarters for heat. We went out that evening to McDonalds to get dinner, and it was packed. After we ate we ran to Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Walgreens trying to find firewood and every single place was sold out! We then ran over to Wal Mart and of ALL places IT was CLOSED!!!! Can you believe that? Then, we just decided to go home and burn our lonely firestarters and we roasted marshmallows over the fire and made smores to pass the time. Sam ended up going over to a friends house, who had power. He stayed there until Wednesday evening. Abby went over there on Tuesday and also stayed until Wednesday evening. Lexi went over to her friend Rachel's house until Friday.

On Tuesday we spent the day at the mall, because it was warm and they had power and cooked food. Dad was able to run to Sutherland's and purchase a generator that he would get to pick up on Wednesday afternoon. The generator was supposed to be able to power most of the house, and give us heat. We were all looking forward to having a little power and heat! Dad took us to Golden Corral for dinner and we came home and hung around the fire and then finally decided to go to bed because there was nothing to do, because we couldn't see.

Wednesday, we hung out at the mall again. Dad worked a half day and around 4 was able to pick up our generator. X, Chase, and I met him at Home Depot so we could pick up all the switches and what not that we needed to hook it up. All in all, Dad spent about $1,000 on the generator. We came back to the house and Dad and X worked hard for about 2 hours out in the freezing cold to get the thing hooked up. Chase and I sat in the van and watched, and occasionally got out to help. The van was the warmest spot around! Dad and X finally got the generator ready to hook up to the house. They hauled the darn thing to the back yard, took the meter off, and...just...as...they...were...hooking...it...up...the...neighbors...LIGHTS...turned...ON!!! So, we started to laugh and we were all like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!? So instead of hooking the generator up dad put the meter back on and sure enough, the LIGHTS TURNED ON!!!!! Can you believe it?! After all the money and working out in the freezing cold, the power WORKS! Dad says..."I'm so pissed, I can't help but laugh."

We didn't have school on Thursday, but we did on Friday. Half of the students weren't even there. It was a CRAZY day.

Today we had to clean the yard and clear all the branches and twigs out of the yard. It was a MESS. As we were out there cleaning, it starts to snow! How lovely.

So, this has been our first wonderful winter experience here in Tulsa, OK. Enjoy the pictures, I took tons! Oh, and all through this my mom wasn't here, she has been in Utah loving on Avery!

Another one!

Avery Faith Adams is here! Carly and Michael went into the doctor this morning at 5 to be induced. Ava came at 3:21 PM and is 8 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long. They say she has a lot of hair, but it is light, and mom thinks she is going to be a little blue eyed blondie! Check out those chipmunk cheeks!!!! =) When she came out, Kiara said oh she's a little peanut, and Carly said, No! She's a little chipmunk that ate the peanuts. I thought that that was too funny. Labor and everything else went well, and the family is doing great! Mom was able to make it to Utah in time for Ava to come. We are glad to have another new little niece in our family! Congrats Carly and Michael!!!