A Wedding, Christmas, and Sickness

The boys and I drove to Columbus Ohio to fly out with my sister in law Becca and niece Lillia.  We left Columbus on December 14th with WAY too much luggage and definitely too many funny looks for all the other travelers on our flights.  Picture this....2 women and 3 kids-a 3-1/2 year old boy, a 21 month old girl, and a 9 month old boy, 2 umbroller strollers hooked together, 1 back pack, 2 diaper bags and 1 carseat in a bag.  Yes that was us...making our way from Columbus OH to Omaha NE with a layover in Chicago Midway airport.  All in all the kids were great.  They ate way too much junk food, but they were great!  Eli slept on both flights and Lillia took a long nap on the second leg.  Carter watched movies and was a very pleasant boy.  The men joined us days later.

All of this for my older sister's wedding.  My sister Emily was wed to Jason Mayer on December 18th at 11am.  It was beautiful.  The colors were red and black.  Mom made the little girls dresses and I made red ties for the boys and headbands with rosettes for the girls hair.  It was nice to see Emily and Jason so happy.

We stayed through the Holiday and came home on December 26th.  We Many things happened while in Council Bluffs IA.  Just some highlights...

-We saw the infamous gingerbread display at the Tabernacle.  Carter was thrilled.

-It was COLD...we were chilly sleeping in the basement of Mema's house.
-Ate lots of food and too many leftovers.
-Chris and Jon went shopping with Jamie only to get to the check-out line with EXTRA LARGE women's briefs in their basket.
-Lillia my niece went to the ER and they thought she had the croup but found out later she had Pneumonia.  Poor baby!
-I got the stomach flu, in bed on in the bathroom all day.  Then 36 hours later Jamie had the same thing only WORSE!

-I got a cold sore right before the wedding and unfortunately passed it on to poor Eli right on his forehead right before Christmas.  We ended up seeing a PA on Christmas Eve who gave him antibiotics for his viral infection and "cold sore" on his head.
-Everyone in the house had germs...I think 75% of the house was on antibiotics of some kind.  Merry Christmas.
-Christmas Day went to see "Gulliver's Travels" and took a chance taking Carter.  He did OK till 3/4 of the way through he got ants in his pants and could NOT stay in his seat.  Any time a song came on he danced down the rows. 
-Mema kept calling Carter things like "Cutie", or "Baby Doll" and he didn't like it.  One morning as he walked up the stairs at 7am he confronted her about it.  He said, "Mema, did you know me when I was a Baby?"  She replied, "Yes!"  He said, "Well, I am a BIG BOY now and you CAN'T call me cutie!"
-Carter loved all of his gifts and was so excited that Santa knew what he wanted!  He got the Leapfrog TAG and kept saying, "He knew, He knew this was what I wanted!"(He wrote a letter and hand delivered it at the depot at the beginning of December!!! )

-I LOVED listening to my grandma talk about the days when she was a young mother and how she handled things and what her worries were.  I love listening to all of her stories and her thoughts.  She is and was an amazing woman!
-Celebrated Nikolas' 8th birthday and baptism on December 19th.  He was baptized by my father, confirmed by Jonathan Spooner, and Becca Spooner gave the Baptism talk and Grandma Shirley Acebedo gave the talk on the Holy Ghost while I sang "Teach me to walk in the Light".   We finished up the event with  shark birthday cake and shark sugar cookies.
-Saw old freinds that came for Emily's wedding...Don and Colby Fletcher and Angie Crandell.
-Ate way too many famous sugar cookies and chocolate covered pretzel rods.
-Enjoyed the company of Grandma and Grandpa Spooner along Aunt Luanne.
-Had a small bachelorette party for Emily, getting pedicures and shopping for something special.  So many laughs my cheeks hurt!
-Attending the famous Family Christmas Party with the Pinata....many fond memories from when I was a young girl.

(Carter quickly grabbing his candy!)

-Ate the traditional Tea Ring Christmas morning.
-Looked at my dad's chewed up ear after he had minor surgery for presumed skin cancer...thankfully it was benign.
-Took the kids to the Children's Museum in Omaha!  They loved it...I highly recommend it!
-Watched Mom and Mema beading at the dining room table...listening to them tell me I will be like them one day.
-Way too many gifts received by so many wonderful people.  Thank you everyone!

We had such a wonderful time with family.  We enjoyed it all!  The boys are off schedule and not sure what time-zone they are in, Eli is still getting over his head sore, and we are all sniffling and hacking....BUT it was worth the trip and we loved every minute!  Thanks for the memories!