December's Festivities (the first half)





December is always a busy month for us.  We have so much we like to do.  This year was tough for me to be motivated to do a lot since I was so pregnant! We managed to do a few of our usual activities.  The first thing we did was temple lights.  Every year we go do this at least once. It is such a fun thing to do that really gets you in the Christmas spirit, and it's free.  We enjoyed walking around and then we stopped at QT for hot cocoa on the way home. 

The kids posing in front of some lights.



Can you tell I am ready to be done with the pregnancy?




The temple and all the pretty lights!

Next up was to find and decorate a tree.  I contemplated taking a day trip to Flagstaff to cut our own but chose to save that activity for a year when I am not nine months pregnant.  We had to go to a couple stores but eventually found one we liked at Home Depot.  The kids sure do enjoy decorating the tree.  We have a tradition where we buy each kid an ornament every year that represents them in some way. It might be the cartoon character they loved or the sport they played.  If it doesn't have the year on it, I write it on there along with their name.  It's really fun to pull out each ornament and remember a little about that time in their lives. 

Corey getting the tree set up while the kids "help".



Luke and Corey put the lights on the tree. I kept them from getting tangled.




Everybody helped put ornaments on the tree.



The kids in front of the decorated tree.



A good big brother holds his worn out baby brother.

We made a random trip to the zoo one day. I decided we needed to ditch church and hang out together. Judge me if you must, but we had a great day spending time together. Cora was the photographer so she isn't in any of the pictures but I have LOTS of pictures of goats. She takes after her dad when it comes to photography skills.



The boys were loving these goats that didn't go running when the boys came near!




This crazy goat wouldn't leave me alone!  At one point, he tried to get on my lap!

It was getting close to Christmas and we were running out of available nights to do things.  We decided one Wednesday night to go to Rawhide, or "Cowboy Town" as the kids call it.  So we bundle up, load everyone up, drive out there and...it's closed on Wednesdays.  We didn't really want a bunch of disappointed crying kids so we drove into Scottsdale to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park.  They have a cute little train that rides through a ton of lights.  After we rode the train, we got ice cream. Yes, ice cream in December but it was delicious.  Then we went to the playground that looks like an old town.  We played hide and seek, Halley climbed a really tall tree, and I posed for some really great pregnancy photos ;)  We had a blast!



The kids, Halley and I on the train.




Here is Luke pretending not to know us on the train.




Corey and  I on the train.



The whole family.



Halley in her really tall tree!





My pretty pregnancy photo!  I really did have good ones taken.
 I'll try to figure out how to post a link to see them

Cora recently joined Girl Scouts and her troop had a little ceremony where they got their sashes and their pins. It was really cute. I am so excited for her to learn and grow with the Girl Scout program like I did ( and my mom, and her mom, and her mom!)  Cora makes the fifth generation to be a Girl Scout!

Cora with her troop at their pinning ceremony.

Cora getting her sash and pin.

She's officially a Brownie!

One of Cora's first troop activities was to go to Zoo Lights.  This was awesome because they got cheap tickets and it was on our to do list for December.  We went on Friday, December 16th.  The leaders joked that I would go into labor. Little did we know, they might just be right! It didn't happen that night but VERY soon after!



Corey and the boys at Zoo Lights.
The extra boy is a friend of ours, Jayden.



Supposedly three weeks to go at this point!



Enjoying some hot cocoa after walking through Zoo Lights.

The day after Zoo Lights, I shopped ALL DAY long! I got all our Christmas shopping done instead of decorating cookies. I figured Christmas cookies could happen another day or not at all.  The kids may be a little more disappointed if they didn't have presents.

I woke up Sunday having contractions. They weren't painful but they were regular. My doctor had said that if I had more than eight in an hour to head to the hospital.  After sacrament, my sisters and I headed down there.  They hooked me up to the monitors. I was in fact contracting but they thought it was due to being dehydrated.  They gave me IV fluids and sent me home to rest.  I didn't do anything on Sunday but lay in my bed and drink lots of water.  I was feeling good when I went to sleep but I woke up Monday morning with terrible cramps that I couldn't sleep through.  I decided, once Carrie got to my house around 7:30 that we would take Renner to preschool and go back to the hospital.  I was in too much pain for it to be dehydration.  I did feel like a paranoid freak going in two days in a row.  But, oh well. I hurt. That;s all I knew. 

So, the baby is crying for me so I guess it's to be continued...