A Day to Remember . .

This past weekend has given me much time to think about family and how important we are to eachother. Dale and I attended the temple on Friday night. We have not been for such a long time. Of course all throughout the day I tried to talk myself out of going -- it is too long, I don't want to have to get a babysitter, blah, blah, blah. Dale and I pushed ourselves and made it there. What a good feeling it was to be there and to be reminded that I need to be there more often. I then had the opportunity on Saturday night to attend the adult session of stake conference. Elder Robert D. Hales attended our conference and spoke Saturday evening. He too reminded us all to be more vigilant in attending temple and sharing the blessings with our families.

On Sunday, Dale and I decided we just didn't want to fight the crowds and attend the Sunday session of Stake Conference. So, we just kicked back at home and enjoyed the time to be lazy for a minute. Rett woke up really early that day and wanted me to lay with him to watch TV. He fell asleep in my lap at 11:00 and I then took him upstairs for his early nap. At noon, Rett came down the stairs and was happy to be awake. Sid went and picked him up and at the moment he arched his back and went into a seizure. As our family experienced this moment together, I kept thinking "this can't be the time for him to go - I have not had enough time with him." I know at that moment, although prayers were not said out loud, all four of us were praying for Rett to be okay. Rett is okay today and the pediatrician believes he spiked a fever while sleeping, his temp went too high - too fast, causing a seizure. I am so thankful for family and friends who are all supporting and praying for us. I can't help but think of Amy and the trial she goes through daily with little Dawson. My moment yesterday seems small compared to her daily routines. It is moments like these that I realize life is short, our time here is brief and I can't let "life" get in the way of my family.

So far, so good today . . . let's hope we don't have to experience anything like that again!

Dale's Hard Work

For those of you who are unable to attend the open house of the Draper temple -- this is a sneak peak courtesy of KSL website. All of you who live in Utah -- you won't want to miss this. This is the work that Dale has been doing for the last couple of months. By the way -- the pictures only capture a glimpse of how beautiful the work is. Our family attended the open house a couple of weekends ago. It was so fun, especially to be able to show the kids what their Dad is doing in all of those temples! Opportunities for Dale's work to be seen don't come along very often --- I am so thankful to have a new temple here in Utah. Through all of my complaining, when I see the final project of what Dale has been working on, suddenly all the time he is away is worth it! I am so proud of him and I know he puts his heart into all he does. I am so glad that he is able to use his talents in decorating these temples. It is really beautiful!

Merry, Merry!!

As tradition has it, we spent our Christmas Eve with Dale's family, Gretchen and Steve. Steve is always such a great entertainer for the kids -- but, I'm not sure who the kid is!! What a great time they all had being pulled behind the four wheeler in the sled! Only at Gretchen's can you four wheel in your backyard!

The kids were so excited to open their traditional "Christmas jamies!"

As usual, Sid - Cole - and Rett - were spoiled rotten by Santa and everyone else!

Rett only cared about playing with his Tonka Trucks -- forget opening presents!

Briggs loves his cousin Rett!! They can't get enough of each other!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Charles

Introducing Charles . . who receives so much love from Sidney, Cole, and Rett! He is very spoiled, Rett even lets him ride in his cars and on his motorcycles! (I am amazed he is still alive!) Welcome to our family Charles!

Tradition . . .

All of you know -- we LOVE to wait to get the tree put up! Yes -- today was the day!! With just 10 days left until Christmas, the kids could wait no longer. We did it! We loaded in the car -- mind you, it is about 20 degrees outside and the wind is blowing. As we arrive at the tree lot, Cole notices the trees are now 50% off (see it pays to wait)! We get out, tell the nice gentleman stoking a fire we need a beautiful, small tree. The kids went staight to the tree they wanted -- $20.00 later -- we are now the proud owners of a beautiful 5 foot tree! We were in and out of the car in about 3 minutes flat!! As you can see, Rett thought we were nuts for getting out in that weather!

One side note -- Dale is frantically working to finish his work in the Draper temple -- so needless to say, he is out of the house at 6:30 a.m. and gets home at about 9:30 p.m. -- the kids think he is out of town all week.

Back to the events of the evening. Sidney and Cole haul the tree in. After much discussion I had with the lovely tree stand to get it to work, I finally did it. I put the thing together "by myself!!" Cole then tries to help me put the tree in that darn thing. Just when I think we have it -- Cole lets go of the tree and there it goes -- leaning to the right. I had to call Ernie to the rescue!! Ernie stopped by and had that lovely tree standing straight and tall within 5 minutes! Thanks Ernie. Now -- thats not all. Cole and I check the string of lights we had to make sure they worked. All is well -- lets get to decorating! I string the lights around the entire tree -- plug those babies in and WHAM -- there are only about 20 out of 100 lights that work!! Just my luck! Oh well -- it looks beautiful! The kids put all the ornaments on this year, finished that tree and we are READY FOR CHRISTMAS!! Come soon Santa . . . Please bring us a new string of lights!

Santa!

We finally got to SEE Santa! Grandma and Grandpa Barton had a little Christmas party at the assisted living center. Rett was so excited to go and see Santa . . . . until we were next in line! Then he would only go and see Santa if he was with me! So there you have it, both Rett and I got to sit on Santa's lap! (of course, I was the only one doing the talking!) Then, Cole has this great idea that he would get out of sitting on Santa's lap and just steal some of Rett's candy cane -- WRONG! Rett was not going to share for anything . . . so yes, Cole had his turn and got his own candy cane!



This is the best part of the whole night -- while Cole was busy telling Santa about the DS he wants along with the DOGZ game, Rett was sneaking in for another treat! (Sidney was hiding behind the door! Who knows why my kids are frightened of Santa -- could it possibly be my threats to put them on the "naughty" list!!)

Now for the bad news . . . I know you were all waiting for the fun Thanksgiving photos, well, I went to post them last night and you wouldn't believe it . . . no photos on the memory card. I didn't get them downloaded and now they are gone! I have realized something this week and called Mom to tell her -- "Nothing is my own anymore!!" All she could do was laugh and tell me it will never be! So -- one of those kids must have got a hold of the camera and deleted all of the wonderful Thanksgiving photos -- the best photo that will be missed is one of Rett kissing Gretchen's sister-in-law's dog. The dog standing on his hind legs and Rett leaning in for a kiss! DANG! Yes, we had a great Thanksgiving. Spent the day with Dale's sister, Gretchen and her family. I baked my usual rolls, pies, and chex mix!

Other missing photos included those of our newest family member, Charles. After much begging and Dale finally telling me we are too hard on the kids and we should let them have a pet -- we found Charles, the hamster! (I will take new photos of him and post them soon!) He is a very nice little guy and rarely bites, but the other night -- he was up playing on his wheel ALL NIGHT long! The kids had left him in the living room. Needless to say -- both Dale and I were up all night with the noise of the wheel and questioned what we were possibly thinking in letting the them get a pet!! So -- last night, Charles slept in the bathroom upstairs (Cole wakes up with his running too --so he is banned from their room)! I went to check on the kids before putting myself to bed last night and there Sid was -- curled up on the bathroom floor with her blanket, right next to Charles! (She is protecting him from being thrown out in the shed!)

Last, but not least, Cole lost his second tooth! He was so excited and wanted me to take a picture for the blog -- yes, that too is now gone!

So there you have it -- the Gierisch happenings in a nut shell!