New Years Eve!

My parents drove up from San Diego the Monday following Christmas to visit for the week... our boys were SO EXCITED to see them since it's not often we get to.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see them much because we experienced horrible winter weather that very same week while they were here and the driving conditions on the roads weren't very safe... They decided to stay at The Marriott Hotel by Thanksgiving Point where Tricia and her entire family were staying; it's probably less than 6 or 7 miles from our home, but with some of the white out driving conditions we experienced that week, it was just too risky a lot of the time to meet up with them...  Spencer and I did get to go out to dinner with them to P.F. Changs the first night they were in town, while my in laws babysat all four boys... my parents also joined us one evening during the week at our place for dinner and to play with the boys.  I know my dad is convinced the boys are always a handful (which really isn't the case otherwise we wouldn't have had 4, with a 5TH on the way)--- whenever  grandpa comes to visit they are WILD!  One afternoon I took the two boys with me to meet my parents, Tricia and her entire family, at the movie theater--- we watched Yogi Bear together.  It was pretty cute...  I'll tell you what was a hot mess though when we finished the movie, the roads!!!  There was a blizzard outside!!! I had planned to take my nephew Daniel home with us that night to spend the evening, but as it turns out my family was begging ME to stay with them overnight at their hotel. They couldn't see how I could possibly make it home in the near white out conditions and in the dark. I refused to stay, said about 50 silent prayers that we could make it home safely, packed the boys into the car and off we went.  It was white knuckle driving I tell ya... and I'd start to panic a little every time I passed a mini van that had slid off onto the side of the road... would I be next?!  The boys hadn't eaten dinner yet and I didn't really have much at home to feed them so I thought I'd pick them up a cheeseburger from McDonalds on the way home (I know, I know... what kind of terrible mother am I?!  Look we really don't eat there, or anywhere out for that matter, probably more than once a month!)...  it sounded like a plan, until I approached the intersection where McDonald's was, but couldn't actually see it OR the driveway leading into it!!!  Yeah- we were definitely driving in a blizzard--- funny thing is you wouldn't had known if you were in the car with us... the boys were riding comfy and cozy, watching a movie on the movie player and having a great time conversing with one another...  since I couldn't see McDonald's I figured I had no choice but to continue driving home in the direction I knew home was...  40 minutes later, driving at 10 miles per hour, we made it home, safe and sound and I could FINALLY breathe a sigh of relief!!!  Spencer spent about 2 hours that chilly night with the snow blower outside chipping away 2-3 feet of snow and ice off the driveway and walkways... while he was busy outside, the boys played inside with Daniel and of course that night of all nights, Bentley had to fall partially down the stairs and hit his head on the corner of the wood post and cut it open!!!  It was a horrible cut on his forehead, the bump looked pretty gnarly too, but I was more worried about the cut because it kept bleeding and bleeding... it looked like it needed stitches, but then again, how was I going to get him to the hospital which was MILES away in whiteout winter weather conditions...  the poor little guy.  I wrapped and bandaged it as best as I could, cleaned up the bloody mess on the tile and carpet where he fell, made and fed the boys macaroni for dinner, then we called it a night!  My nerves were at the point where they were beyond frazzled from a stressful evening. Oh and b.t.w., Bentley's wound did eventually heal, but now the poor guy has a pretty nice scar on his forehead that is very noticeable. I hope it fades away some as he grows older.

Since my family was going to be in town for New Years Eve, we decided to invite them all over for a New Years Eve Bash.  My sister Celeste, who lives just north of Salt Lake, came down with her family to help us celebrate.  We (the adults) decided to turn all the clocks in the house forward 2 hours... so we could ring in the New Year early (at 10p.m. MST, 12 o'clock eastern standard time), none of the kids would even suspect a change, and we could all wrap up the festivities quickly thereafter and drive home/get to bed at a reasonable hour (we were hoping to get to sleep before midnight)...  we thought the plan sounded genius, but as it turns out, we still didn't get to sleep until after 2 that morning.

We munched on pizza (we even had gluten free pizza for those of us who can't eat the regular kind), chips, veggies and dip, salad, cookies, cupcakes, eclairs, M&M's, popcorn... you name the snack food, we probably had it!

Oh, Tricia's going to HATE ME for posting this picture of her making this silly face... 

It's awful though isn't it?  

Trust me folks, she doesn't normally look like this, she was just goofing off!

The older kids and adults hung out on the main floor of our house and watched the movie "Flipped"--- it's SO good!  (If you haven't watched it, DO!).  The little kids either played downstairs in the basement where they took turns driving the truck or blew bubbles or they played upstairs in the toy room...

These two girls, my nieces Rayanne and Alauna, are getting so old so quickly!  I was just 13/14 years old when they were born and now they're 14 and 16 years old, which just doesn't make any sense to me because a lot of the time I still feel as though I'm only 16 or 17 years old... okay, actually that's a lie... a lot of the time I like to still think I'm a young 20--- I really don't see myself any older than 23 years old--- how is it I can actually be turning 30 this March?!  It's scary to think I could possibly be attending THEIR weddings in just a few years!

When the clocks in the house actually said it was close to midnight (mind you, it was still really only 10), we poured some Martinelli into glasses so everyone could make a toast, and the kids dawned on their party gear, everyone grabbed some noisemakers and poppers and we all counted down to the New Year !!!

Before everyone left the party, the kids went down to the basement with Grandma Truesdell to do fireworks... they weren't the kind of fireworks you're probably thinking of, they were just the kind that you throw on the ground and they making the popping sound... we had about a thousand of them we wanted to get rid of so the kids had a blast throwing them at each other and on the ground. B.T.W. Our basement isn't finished yet, so the flooring is still only cement--- obviously we weren't worried about any damage done by the fireworks, however in the following video you can hear me harping on my Mom because she kept throwing her fireworks at our walls that are only covered in insulation but no drywall...  I was unsure whether it would be a fire hazard and to be completely truthful, I didn't want to find out!  No worries Mom, I still love you, even if you were trying to burn down my house!