While the Mom Was Away

While I was in Denver, Grandma and Papa Grimmett came down to visit and help Daddy with the kids. Here are some pics that they took. . .

Papa teaching Gage about computers!

Daddy doing Maisey's hair (which looked pretty good!)

Gage just playin'!

Grandma let Maisey open her Christmas presents early. She got this lunch box and was so excited to eat lunch out of it on Monday!

Papa, Maisey, Grandma, and Gage before church!

Thanks for coming to visit! I knew the kids were in good hands while I was gone!

"I Scared"

At 10:00 pm I went in Maisey's room to check on her. She told me "I scared, I scared" so I laid on her bed with her and she was clinging to my shirt and crying.

I'm sure this experience had something to do with it:

Last night, the kids and I headed down to my mom's after dinner. Shaun was going to the church for his Elder's Quorum Presidency Meeting, and I had to drop some stuff off for my mom and pick some stuff up. We left at 6:15 pm, because I wanted to be home by 7:00 to get the kids in bed. Well we left my mom's at 6:50 pm, a little later than I had hoped for, and at 7:05 pm we were 2 minutes from our house on a back highway (99E) when the car in front of us turned left, right into on coming traffic. The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph. That is a hard collision. The car that turned left hit the car going straight so hard then spun around back toward us. Not to mention all of the pieces of both cars flying at us. This is a pic that I took with my phone of how close that car was to us. About 3 feet!

(The white car on the left was the one making the turn. The car on the right is our van.)

I saw this all happen. . . right.before.my.eyes! I took in this big gulp of air and then held my breath as if I was bracing my self to get hit! I wanted to put my car in reverse but I just froze. As soon as the car stopped flying toward us, Maisey said to me, "Mommy, make you feel better!" I said to her, "Maisey, Mommy's not hurt, I'm just scared." I called 9-1-1 right away.

I told the lady where the accident was located and I told her there was liquid gushing out of the car that got hit. I was scared that the car was going to explode because I was right in the middle of everything, and oh yeah. . . I HAD MY KIDS WITH ME!!!!! The horn was going off on the car that got hit, and airbags went off from both cars. I left Clifford on in the car for the kids to watch and I got out to assess injuries.

The driver of the car that caused the accident was out of his car and walking around. He was a teenage boy. His passenger, his mom, didn't speak English, but I'm pretty sure she had a broken arm.

The car that got hit there were like 7 Hispanic people in it. None of them spoke English. One of the passengers was pregnant. There were 2 pre-teen girls that were hyperventilating and throwing up. And the driver was an older male who had neck injuries.

The fire trucks and ambulances were there with in 2 minutes of when I hung up with the dispatcher. They reacted fast and did a good job at re-routing traffic since we were taking up the whole highway. They finally got the horn stopped on that car. It was loud and giving me a headache, and scaring Maisey. I called Shaun. He left his meeting to come get the kids. I had to stay because my car was right in the middle. I couldn't move out of the way. Plus, I had to stick around for the police to question me. Also, it SO didn't help that it was like 15 degrees outside! It was so.dang.cold!

It took 45 minutes for a police officer to show up. I'm not quite sure what's more important then a bad accident that closed down a highway, but whatever. I just sat in my car until they came. 3 ambulances took passengers to the hospital. The teenage boy's Dad showed up at the accident. He pulled up right behind me. I'm a little scared because he could have written down my license plate number and find a way to locate me for being a witness at the scene and for telling the police that it was his son's fault. The last thing I need is some kind of mafia or gang after me. Ok, maybe I watch too much C.S.I. -- But it could happen. And I'm still scared!

The officer that interviewed me had a really cool accent that reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger on Kindergarten Cop. By 8:15 pm the officer helped me maneuver my way through the accident so I could go rescue the kids from Shaun's meeting.

So much for getting my kids to bed on time!

So much for getting stuff done last night!

My poor Maisey is traumatized. It was scary for me, I can only imagine what was going through the mind of a 2 year old.

A Slew of Posts

My sisters have been getting on me! They keep saying that they are bored and need me to update my blog so they have something new to read! Well girls, I'VE BEEN BUSY! I finally caught up, so here you go! There are a bunch of them on there! Enjoy!

Mile High City

I left Gage and Maisey with Daddy for the weekend and took off to Denver, CO! My mom and sis and I met up for a girl's weekend. We laughed way too much, we ate way too much, we got lost way too often, and we froze our buns off!

My top 2 priorities for the trip: 1)Eat at Cracker Barrel and 2)Sleep in. Well, this is me enjoying my Orange Creme at Cracker Barrel. I LOVE that place! We used to eat there a ton when we lived in Provo, but they don't have one in Oregon. I'm pretty sure the closest one is in Boise. :(

Meet Ruby. . . our trusted rental car! I was the designated driver on the trip because my mom or sister don't know how to drive in the snow and because I am the best with directions. Yeah, scary I know. We did have Lola, our GPS, but we still had to make SEVERAL U-turns. Ruby was a great friend on the trip!

So the whole point of the trip was to go to my sister Kelsey's reception.

Mom, Kelsey, Brian, Me, and Katelyn! I never have to wear that sweater again!!! Woooohoooo!

This is Brian's Grandpa. He is the one who sealed Kelsey and Brian 2 weeks ago in the Portland Temple. He is a very cute man and he loves college football. . . so you know who I made friends with. During the reception we could often be found downstairs watching the Texas vs. Nebraksa game.

At the reception they had an awesome food spread. One of the things were called cake pops. They were delicious! I'm pretty sure I ate like 6. I met the lady that made them and she directed me to the blog http://www.bakerella.com/. I know one thing for sure -- I will be making these for the next event that I host! I'm almost tempted to make them just because! That's how good they were!

Grandpa and Grandma Grimmett came down to help Shaun with the kids while I was gone. They came bearing gifts! Grandma gave Maisey a Little People Nativity and Janel gave Maisey all of the Disney Princess figurines. This is what I came home to Sunday night --

Maisey reinvented the Nativity. Did you know that Jesus had 7 princesses witness His birth?

The weekend was fun, but busy and as always, too short! Until next time. . .

Go Beavs!

The Oregon Civil War game was last Thursday night! We had a big Civil War party at our friend's house! Us and another family were pretty much the only Beaver fans there.



This year the game was particularly competitive because the winner got to go to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.



I made Maisey this black, orange, and white tutu to wear! She thought she was a princess and was dancing everywhere. She wouldn't hold still for a pic!

At half time we brought the kids home and put them to bed, but not before a daddy-daughter game of tackle!

The Beaver's ended up losing, but it was a very close game!

Now, Oregon State and BYU are playing in the Vegas Bowl. Sorry Beavs, we won't be rooting for you!

Kids Christmas Pics

My goal was to get our Christmas cards out before I went to Denver. I was working on them last Tuesday morning when I realized I didn't have any pics of the kids to stick in. So I did a very quick, pretty lame photo shoot. None the less, here they are!

Don't judge the ligthing, poses, or background! I seriously had like 10 minutes before we had to leave for story time!

Lots of batteries + Train = Hours of Entertainment

I'm pretty sure we are going to go through 20 packs of "C" batteries this month. We put our train around our tree for the first time since having kids. They both LOVE it! Gage just watches it go around and around and around. It never gets old for him! Maisey loves to use the remote to control it, to ring the bell, blow the whistle and play the music. She thinks she is so big when we let her do it!

Who needs a babysitter when we have a train?

Tree Decorating

Last Monday, Nov. 30th, we decorated our tree for FHE! We put Gage to bed because he was being a grouch, so it was just the 3 of us! Maisey thought it was so fun and does a great job not touching the "eyeballs" (that's what she calls ornaments!)

The holidays are so much fun with her this year. Her excitement is over the top! I love it!

Maisey's Big Girl Bed

During the week of Thanksgiving, Maisey slept in her big girl bed all week. . . so that weekend I asked Shaun to take down her crib.

Maisey being quite the helper!

The first few nights after we took her crib down didn't go as well as the whole week before, and Shaun and I even walked into blood all over her bed one night. She broke a picture frame and cut her finger. So, now the top of her bed is completely clear! :) She is doing much better and stays in her bed! She never gets out! She just yells to me in the morning, "I awake!"



She is growing up too fast!

The Truth

Last night I told Shaun the truth! It felt good. Every once in a while I've posted on here about Gage and how I've struggled with him, but last night I let it all out. I am posting it on here because this pretty much my journal for my family.



Don't judge me, don't think less of me, or better yet, don't even read it!


I feel like I don't have enough time and love for Gage. It is so easy to love Maisey. She can pretty much do most things on her own, she tells me that she loves me, she gives me kisses, and she is just so dang cute. She is such a mommy's girl and I love her. When Maisey was a baby, it was just me and her. I could hold her all day, play with her, feed her, and love her without anyone getting in the way. Now, with Gage, I have Maisey to take care of and I also babysit 2-3 kids, 4 days a week. So often times, Gage gets left on the back burner because I don't have enough hands, enough time, or enough patients to deal with him. I don't know how Mom's with so many kids do it. Why am I having such a hard time with just my 2?



So Gage, this is for you. Today I am recommitting myself to you as your mother. You are my main priority. No more putting you on the back burner. My goal is to be more patient with you and more kind towards you. To develop a lasting relationship with you that is full of love and understanding. No more projects while you are awake, no more making you sit there and scream. Lots more love, lots more kisses, and lots more time. That is my goal this holiday season and probably in to the new year. I love you buddy! I really do! Please be patient with me! I'm trying, and that's the best I can do right now!