The Holidays

I really go in spurts blogging. I do several posts at once and then go a long time without doing anything. B and I signed onto Facebook recently and I have spent a lot of time on that and have neglected this! I did find out that I can make my blog into a book. I think it was on Blurb.com
which is great because then this really can double as my family journal and I can make a hard copy of it.

Well lets start with Thanksgiving. We spent the Holiday with my family in UT. It was a fun relaxing long weekend and we got to be there for my mom's birthday too. I had a few cousins that are in college stay at my parent's for the holiday also. My kids loved playing with them and they were great to entertain our little ones. Here of course are a few pictures!

Thanksgiving morning Bryant got a phone call that a family friend he had hunted with since he was about 10 years old had passed away. Delbert was 80 years old, had diabetes, and had a heart attack the night before in his sleep. It was tough news and Bryant had a bit of a hard day on Thanksgiving. We went to the funeral in Cokeville the next Monday.

December was a busy month as it always is. A little less busy this year though because Ashelynn didn't dance in the Nutcracker. We were out of town the weekend of auditions and I was successful in keeping that on the DL until she found out another friend was in the show about 2 weeks before the preformances started. Then she was sad for a while, but was ok with it.
Bryson turned 3 and was very excited to have his own birthday party. We had it at the church so the kids would have a lot of room to run around. He loved the party and loved the presents. We played his favorites like Duck, Duck, Goose! and raced cars and had a pinata. It was a lot of fun. We were also excited that Cameron and Michelle's family could be at the party too. Jace was the favorite pick in Duck, Duck, Goose!

Bryson is Lightning McQueen's biggest fan!

We spent Christmas with Bryant's family here. We even slept at their house most nights. We all partied for the week after Christmas. The kids had a great time and for the most part got along really well. Some funny moments were when Bryson came crying into the living room (where all the adults were at the time). I went up to him and asked him what was wrong. He said he needed, "Jace's dad" So I thought he was going to go cuddle with Cam to feel better from whatever was wrong. He climbs on his lap and hugs him and then he says to Cam, "You need to go get Jace and put him in time out." We all laughed and thought it was pretty funny that Bryson went straight to Cam. Ashelynn loved every minute she got to spend with her cousins. I think I hardly saw her the whole week because she was having so much fun with everyone. Again here are a bunch of pics.
Here is the whole Birch Bunch

New Year's Eve I'm sorry to say wasn't fun for me at all. Bryson got a fever that morning and it was 103.5. Even on medciation it was 101+. So I brought him home and Ashelynn stayed with her cousins, aunts and uncles, and granparents for the day. I tried to go back for the New Years Eve party at about 8pm so I would only have to put Bryson to sleep there. But we only lasted about an hour until his fever spiked again to 103.5, so we all came home. I let Ashleynn stay in my bed to watch the ball drop in NYC but we both fell asleep before it happened. Then I was up all night with Bryson either checking his temp and giving him more meds, or he woke up on his own. The next day he felt much better thankfully. Then Ashelynn got an ear infection the day school started and she is still on antibiotics.
Bryant had a very good friend from dental school get married that same night in San Fransico and I told him that he needed to go to that, so he wasn't here for all the fun. I'm glad he got to see his friend get married though. He felt bad that he was gone when he heard what was going on here. Why do my kids always get sick when he is gone?

I think that is a pretty good quick recap of the last couple weeks. I am feeling pretty good still. I am really frusterated every time I try to get dressed though. I would like to get some nicer maternity clothes, but I don't want to spend the money because I don't have that much time left. My next apt is in a week. I am always excited to hear the heart beat and see the occasional ultrasound picture.

Here are the latest cards from my card group I'm in. They are all so cute I had to show them all. The card I made I can't take all the credit for this time. Bryant helped me a lot. I had the idea to make a heart out of these dots and for the life of me I couldn't get it to look right. So I asked him to try. He did such I good job I begged him to make all the hearts, which he did. Thanks B!

Top 2 cards are Kim's and Shandra's
Lower row are Ashely's, Laura's, and Christine's cards
Last photo is mine and Bryant's