Lately I........

My lovely friend Lauren does this on her blog and I've always loved it so I thought I would steal her idea and share some of my loves, likes, and loathes as of late.......

Lately I love.....

My calling. I am the primary chorister in our ward and it has been wonderful. I love the kids and I love singing so many beautiful songs with them. On Sunday we sang He Sent His Son and I taught them the sign language to go along with it and wow......I could barely sing I was so overcome with the spirit. I don't even know how to describe it, but it was very wonderful and very special. Which brings me to my next love......

Sam being a sunbeam! So far he LOVES primary! He NEVER liked nursery (each week was awful and traumatic for all of us) so to see him there with all the other kids signing and singing along was almost too much......such a precious moment :) He is such a sweet boy and I'm so glad we can have that time together!

Cereal with chocolate in it. I am in love with this. I started out with chocolate chex and then went to Special K red berries with chocolate chunks and MAN it's soooo good! I think chocolate chex is my favorite. If you haven't tried it then go to the store right now and buy some! Mmmmmm! Your mornings will never be the same ;)

Steven and Siena living with us. It hasn't even been a month yet, but we are so used to them being here and we love it! I really love it :) I love having my Siena chats everyday. She is the best! Last night I came home to Sam and Steven jamming out on their guitars. Sam thinks Steven is the coolest and definitely has a crush on Siena (or as he calls her...Sanena) We are so lucky to have them here with us!


Lately I like.....

My new haircut. My hair was really bugging me and one Sunday Kevin said to me, "I don't think your hair has ever been this long for our whole marriage." I asked him if it was good long or awkward gross long and he totally hesitated so I knew it was time to cut it! Looking at these pics it was definitely time......hehe!

The Big Bang theory. Kevin and I have been watching it before we go to bed and it is soooo funny! Sheldon is hilarious and the more we watch it the more Kevin fears that he is just like him! I have to admit that there are some similarities there, but not enough to make me worried....maybe slightly concerned, but not worried... ;)

Cleaning. Lately my happy place has been putting my earphones in and blasting my iPod and cleaning. It is wonderful! Very therapeutic. I love playing shuffle on my iPod. You go from a Broadway musical to the Backstreet Boys to Classical music to Ska! It's the best! Sadly I can only do this when Kevin is home so during the day our poor house struggles a bit. Here is an example.....

Sam knows he can get away with anything when I am on the phone with my sister so he decided to empty out all the puffies and make a feast for Jane! Ha!!! She was in puffy heaven :)

Costco. During the Holiday season I really hated taking trips to Costco......definitely too crazy and frantic for me, but today we went and it was lovely! No pushy people, no long lines, no screaming children..... just a good old fun time:) We were even able to grab a hot dog and a smoothie! How fun is that?!? Gotta love Costco! Though I am SO ready for the days when I'm only buying one set of diapers......



Lately I loathe......

My makeup. For those of you who watch The Office, I am in a threat level midnight! Confession: I have worn the same lip gloss since Jr. High and now I can't find it anywhere. NOWHERE! I don't know if they stopped making it or what! I don't know what to do! Do you know how much money I have spent trying to find another gloss or lipstick that looks good?!? Hundreds!!! (Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit) but really it is getting ridiculous. I also hate every kind of mascara I've been using. So globby. Any advice? My whole face is just BLAH. I really need some help so any words of wisdom is welcome :) 

People that purposely hurt and exclude others. I'm not sure if it makes them "feel cool" or "superior" but it is immature and sad. Honestly I wish they would grow up. I hate feeling helpless to those I care about and I wish I could swoop in and make it all better for them. I wish people would get out of their own bubble and see what others are going thru and how much they are struggling. We never know the whole story so take a moment before you start judging others and acting out on those judgements. It definitely makes me that much more grateful for the wonderful friends and loving family I have in my life :)

This new app business. For some reason you have to verify your provider in order to watch shows online now and it makes me so mad! This has "the man" written all over it. I guess in a way this could be a good thing......instead of watching shows that are definitely not very uplifting *cough....the bachelor....cough*  I can use that time to do something a little more productive......like re-watching Downton Abbey and writing more blog posts......aaaand maybe an occasional Vampire Diaries here and there.....that is definitely very uplifting and extremely productive ;)

My pants. Let me be more specific. My "derriere" in my pants. I'm being serious here....you can laugh all you want, but my stupid non existent bum makes all my pants look terrible! It is so saggy and awful back there. It's embarrassing! Where on earth can I get a cute pair of pants that will still fit my legs and waist, but also fit my behind?!? Sorry is this weird? TMI??? Its just been really bothering me lately and I had to vent.....sorry I'll stop.....please don't "look" at me the next time you see me......I'm already very self conscious! Haha! (*please do not mistake this as someone who is complaining about something but obviously is trying to compliment themselves or fishing for more compliments. I promise that is NOT my motive here! I really just dislike all my pants and the way I look in them at the moment!)

And lastly........seeing MY bad qualities in my kids. I have a lot of fears and it makes me sad to see some of those fears and anxieties in Sam. I guess the poor boy didn't stand a chance ;) I remember being young and counting down the hours until it would get dark outside and seriously panicking before I'd have to go to bed. Every day Sam will stop and say, "It's not dark outside....it's not dark yet....it's not bed time....." I know he is scared and having a hard time. It breaks my heart since I lived like that for years and YEARS! My poor parents :( Lol. Wish there was some way I could keep all the scary things in this world away from him. I guess for now I'll just keep working on bed time and spiders ;)

A Christmas to Remember

Christmas this year was.........not sure what word to use to describe it...........interesting? Bizarre? Off? Crazy? Weird? Different? Yes I like that one. Christmas this year was different. Let me explain.

Everything leading up to the big day was great this year. Buying presents, playing in the snow, decorating the tree, writing letters to Santa, making cookies.....all so fun! But then Christmas Eve came......dun dun dun.....

It is hard to divide time with family and last year we decided that it was too hard to try to do both in one night so we split it. Last year was a McDonald year and this year was a Davis year. I woke up Christmas Eve and started crying. The day went on and I continued to cry. Kevin called home to check on us and I was still crying. Basically I cried all day and barely made it through the Davis party that night and then cried again on the way home. I was an emotional mess. You could definitely say I ruined Christmas Eve for all of us! I'm still trying to figure out and put it into words why I was so sad. I guess I just miss being a little kid sometimes. I miss going to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve and feeling all the magic and excitement. I miss my Grandpa. I miss our Christmas tree. I miss home. I miss my siblings. I miss grey cat. Lots and lots of emotions! This was the first year of my life I missed Christmas Eve. I didn't think it would be as hard as it was, but obviously I didn't handle it very well. Poor Kevin......he really has to put up with a lot when it comes to me ;) Ok on to Christmas Day.......
 
Sam really got into Christmas this year and it has been so much fun! Kevin and I woke up so excited for Christmas morning so we woke up Sam thinking he would run out to the tree and start freaking out..... We ran into his room and told him to go see if Santa had come and he simply sat down on the floor and said, "No thank you." We kept urging him and he wouldn't go and was acting really scared. We soon realized that he thought Santa Clause was still in our house somewhere! We tried to explain to him that he was gone, but Sam still hid behind us as we went out to the tree. Lol. The rest of the day was super fun. We spent time at Kevin's partents and my parents house. We had a big dinner at Kevin's brothers house and it was all so great. Poor Sam hadn't had anytime to play at home with his presents so when we got home we told him he could stay up late and play. He was so excited he started running all around and he ran right into the kitchen counter and thus ended our night.....poor boy! Luckily he didn't need stitches or anything! I was pretty frazzled so Kevin told me he would watch the Alfie Boe Christmas concert with me! (Those of you who know Kevin know that this is a big deal!) we got in bed and Kevin opened it up and pulled the DVD out and crrrrrack. The DVD broke in half. I started getting teary eyed, but Kevin felt soooooo bad so I held it together! Yet another fail! We were having the worst of luck!

The next morning I woke up and there were tons of messages on my phone. Apparently everyone who had been at my family's Christmas Eve party were coming down with an awful stomach bug. One by one everyone seemed to get sick. We felt safe since we weren't there, but then we heard the news that my dad was sick and  realized we had been with him the day before. I went to bed that night and knew.......a couple hours later I woke up sick and then it hit Kevin and thankfully (tender mercy) both Sam and Jane slept thru the night!!! Somehow we got thru that next day and then the next night it hit Sam. Kevin had to miss his pheasant hunt and I missed a high school friend brunch and it was our Anniversary so we didn't get to celebrate, BUT we felt so united as a family and we were so proud of Sam for being so tough and brave. I prayed so hard that Jane would stay safe and so far she is good ;) There were only a couple of people that didn't get sick.......apparently there is a huge epidemic going on. My sister and her family went to Disneyland over Christmas (yes they threw up the whole time) and my brother and his family came in from Arizona (they also threw up the whole time) so we only had one night we could all be together, New Years Eve. That was last night. We still had the party even though some family members had been sick that very morning! Luckily by that night we were all stable so we were all together :) It was wonderful! I love being with all my family. My mom spoiled us rotten! She does so much for us. It was such a great night and I was so grateful to be with my family. Sam even warmed up and came out of the room he usually hides in when we are all together. A Christmas miracle!!! Haha! 

Now it is all over and I'm feeling the post Christmas day blues........don't want Kevin to go back to work, don't want to take our tree down or accept that they've stopped playing Christmas music on the radio. I should start thinking about what my New Years resolutions should be, but that sounds like too much work. Hmmmm, maybe my resolution should be to not whine or be lazy........there goes this entire post! Ha! The good news is that Kevin's brother, Steven, and his wife, Siena, just moved in with us so we are excited to have them here and spend time with them :) They will definitely brighten up these next few long cold months. So there you have it! A Christmas we will never forget! I'm sure in time it will all seem funny and we will all have a good laugh about it ;) Of course I took a bunch of pictures thru out this holiday season so I'll end with those. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

                                    Leaving some cookies for Santa by the fireplace......

                                               Sam may have stolen a cookie or two ;)

                                           Two girls all cute in their Christmas pajamas!

 Our tree on Christmas Eve :) I snuck out when everyone was sleeping and took this pic....magic!

                                                       Sam peeking in his stocking

                                                      Jane trying to get all the presents

                                                               Finding fun things :)

                                                          Unwrapping the presents

                                                    Sam's new garbage truck......big hit!

                                                         Jane got her first purse!

                                               Sam's cement mixer truck.......nailed it ;)

                                                          Mmmmmm orange tic tacs!

 Love this pic! Ha! He really was happy, but I think he was still worried that Santa was somewhere hiding.............

                                                               So many fun presents!

                                                      Jane loved all her presents too!

                                         Sam's black eye......this pic doesn't do it justice :/

                                       Siena sent this pic to me from New York......love it!

         Our annual sushi night with my favorite person in the world......cousin Janeen!!!!!!!!

                                                           Found Sam planking ;)

The DVD that died.......Kevin went to buy another one a couple of days ago and they were sold out. When he told the worker what had happened he took Kevin to the back area and gave him a copy for FREE!!! So grateful for you whoever you are kind worker man!!!

                                   Look at that turn out! Future ballerina in the works!!!!!!!!

                              Sam loves playing in the snow......night or day, rain or shine!

                                                                Love this girl ;)

              During construction of Steven and Siena's room we found this little guy ;)

                                              Sam loves to fix things.........what a Davis!

                                               Sam really got so many fun gifts this year!
 

                                                 Happy girl.....she thinks she is so big ;)

                     Love finding this boy in Jane's room.......she sure loves her big brother!

                                            Lots of warm bubble baths this time of year

                                                Poor sick Sam.......this breaks my heart :(

 This was probably my most favorite day of the entire holiday season......We all went to see the Nutcracker and it was the most perfect fun girly day. Can't wait for when Jane can come with me :) Happy holidays!!!!